Women's Health and FemTech are becoming increasingly important in M&A transactions and investments within the healthcare market. Women's Health describes the medical, social and economic needs relating to women's health throughout the course of their lives. FemTech, by contrast, refers to technology-driven products and services that address these needs, such as apps, digital services, medical devices, wearables, diagnostics, software and data-driven solutions. The two terms go hand in hand: Women's Health describes the market; FemTech is often the innovation-driven gateway to this market.
In practice, Women's Health products and business models, such as fertility clinic chains, FemTech start-ups and the Women's Health divisions of established pharmaceutical groups, are increasingly attracting the attention of strategic and financial investors. A recent example illustrates how this market has become a key area for transactions: On 10 July 2026, Bayer entered into an agreement with Apollo Global Management regarding a capital injection of EUR 3 billion. Apollo will acquire a minority stake in a new company specialising in long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), whilst Bayer will retain a majority stake and operational control. The transaction is expected to be closed in the second half of 2026, subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities and further closing conditions. Women's Health and FemTech are therefore no longer merely medical and social issues, but are increasingly becoming independent fields of investment and transaction within Life Sciences and Healthcare.
There are structural reasons why Women's Health and FemTech have long been underestimated and underfunded. Women have been systematically underrepresented in medical research, clinical trials and datasets. This has resulted in a gender health gap that continues to shape healthcare services, diagnostics, prevention and product development to this day. This underfunding and underrepresentation were reflected in past M&A activity, a situation that now needs to be rectified.
Women's Health and FemTech: market, investment and exit dynamics
The segment's economic significance is particularly evident in its market and exit dynamics. For example, the FemTech Market Overview (2025) – depending on the market definition – indicates a global FemTech market volume of over USD 75 billion, with an average annual growth rate of 13.3 % between 2020 and 2025; Statista (2024) expects the market to exceed the USD 100 billion mark by 2030. According to the FemTech Market Overview (2025), the countries with the highest number of FemTech companies are the US and the UK. Around 55 % of the companies are based in North America and around 25 % in Europe. At the same time, the market remains underfunded compared with the wider HealthTech and Life Sciences market. For investors, this combination of growing demand, structural undersupply and a funding gap may prove attractive: It opens up opportunities for early-stage investments, platform development and subsequent exits.
Completed transactions also support this assessment: Flo Health, a provider of an app enabling women to track their periods, ovulation and pregnancy, received an investment of over USD 200 million from General Atlantic in 2024, becoming the first purely digital women's health app to achieve a valuation of over USD 1 billion. Also in 2024, Maven Clinic, a digital health company for women, raised USD 125 million, bringing its total funding to over USD 425 million. In March 2025, Willow Innovations, a leading US company in the FemTech and Maternal Health sector, acquired the British FemTech pioneer Elvie with a view to establishing a global platform in the field of maternal health.
These examples show that Women's Health and FemTech are increasingly being perceived as investable healthcare segments – initially often via venture capital and growth capital, but in the longer term also as a "buy-and-build" opportunity for strategic buyers and financial investors. These buyers and investors are currently turning their attention to the increasingly attractive growth and exit opportunities.
Women's Health and FemTech as a growth area for healthcare M&A
From a legal perspective, it is important not to treat transactions in the Women's Health and FemTech sectors in isolation as lifestyle or consumer tech matters. The appropriate legal and transactional framework is Life Sciences & Healthcare M&A. Transactions in this sector are typically characterised by the central role played by regulatory requirements, clinical evidence, data protection, product compliance, reimbursement and operational scalability.
The CMS European M&A Study 2026, in which CMS analyses and summarises market practices and trends based on 601 transactions that CMS advised on across Europe in 2025, also offers important insights. The study shows that the Life Sciences & Healthcare sector remains consistently strong in 2025 (averaging 10 % over the period 2015 to 2024). At the same time, it highlights the growing importance of buy-side financial investors in Life Sciences and Healthcare M&A transactions. The key drivers behind a deal are gaining market access, acquiring expertise and eliminating competitors.
Women's Health offerings are often fragmented. Fertility, the menopause, gynaecology, mental health, diagnostics, telemedicine and employer benefit models are frequently offered separately. M&A can help to consolidate such offerings and build scalable Women's Health platforms.
For (strategic) buyers, Women's Health and FemTech can open up access to new target groups, data models, digital care pathways or specialised healthcare platforms. For financial investors, they combine growth, impact and exit prospects.
This is shifting perceptions: Women's Health and FemTech are no longer merely isolated product or healthcare-related topics, but are increasingly becoming strategic "buy-and-build" and exit opportunities within healthcare M&A.
Venture capital and private equity in Women's Health and FemTech
As a result, the investor landscape is becoming increasingly diverse. There is a growing number of specialised venture capital (VC) investors with a specific focus on Women's Health and/or FemTech, such as Amboy Street Ventures and Goddess Gaia Ventures. Private equity (PE) funds specialising in this sector in the strict sense, however, are still rare. PE investments are more commonly made through broader healthcare, life sciences, digital health or growth strategies. This is not surprising, however: Early-stage funding rounds are driven by specialised VC and impact investors, whilst later-stage scaling and exits often attract strategic buyers, growth investors or healthcare PE firms.
From an M&A perspective, this increasing specialisation among investors is significant because specialised investors often bring not only capital but also sector expertise and regulatory know-how, as well as networks with service providers and easier access to future investors in later funding rounds. This could enhance the scalability of Women's Health and FemTech business models and, in the long term, make target companies more attractive to strategic buyers or larger financial investors.
Due diligence in Women's Health and FemTech transactions
The due diligence process should specifically address the key issues typical of target companies. The first crucial step is to classify the product or business model. Is it a medical device, an in vitro diagnostic, a digital health application, a wellness product, standalone software or a healthcare service platform? Regulatory requirements, clinical evidence, advertising, liability and reimbursement all depend on this classification. In the case of digital business models, data protection, data rights, cyber security and, where applicable, AI-specific issues also come into play.
More in-depth information on regulatory and transaction-related specifics in the healthcare and MedTech sectors can be found, for example, in our CMS articles on private equity transactions in the MedTech sector, Private Equity & Medical Care Centres: legally compliant transactions in the healthcare sector, Private equity in regulated sectors: challenges and opportunities, AI medical devices between the MDR and the AI Act: reform on the horizon as well as general M&A, Episode 3: Due diligence.
Women's Health and FemTech: What matters in M&A transactions
- Do not treat Women's Health and FemTech as merely lifestyle or consumer tech topics: Buyers should clarify at an early stage whether they are acquiring a regulated product, a data-driven business model, a healthcare solution or a platform.
- Regulatory classification is key: Whether it is, for example, a medical device, an in vitro diagnostic, a digital health application (DiGA), a wellness product or a healthcare service platform affects the key risks associated with a transaction.
- Valuation, scalability and exit potential depend on due diligence: regulatory, data-related and commercial issues should be considered together.
- Digital business models require additional scrutiny: For FemTech companies, data protection, data rights, cybersecurity and, where relevant, AI-specific issues may be of particular relevance.
- Due diligence findings should be directly incorporated into the valuation and contractual arrangements: Depending on the risks identified, the purchase price, earn-out structures, warranties, indemnities and closing conditions, in particular, may be affected.
