Femtech and its startups constructing linked breast pumps, interval trackers and different apps and {hardware} designed for girls’s well being have collectively pulled in additional than $5 billion in funding within the final 5 years, however the market is tight, and now, two of the trailblazers within the house are coming collectively as consolidation beckons.
Willow, the San Francisco startup that made its identify with wearable breast pumps, is buying Elvie, which began with a sensible Kegel coach earlier than increasing to different merchandise for brand new moms, together with its personal breast pumps and most just lately, a bassinet.
Terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed however we perceive that it’s coming as Elvie enters administration. The London startup raised greater than $186 million during the last 12 years with buyers that included Octopus Ventures, BlackRock and Blume Equity, amongst others. Its final valuation was $241 million, per information from PitchBook.
The corporations have been in dialog for a while, after Willow approached Elvie to purchase it. But as talks progressed, Elvie additionally approached the tip of its runway.
“The transaction is taking form after many months of different expectations,” Willow CEO Sarah O’Leary mentioned in an interview.
We perceive Willow is taking over the present enterprise, together with its merchandise and group. There are at present 170 individuals working throughout London and Bristol though a few of these are already understanding their discover durations and received’t be approaching to Willow.
For its half, Willow has raised round $254 million in a mixture of fairness and debt with buyers together with the likes of NEA and Meritech. Its valuation, per PitchBook, had risen to as a lot as $256 million in 2021 (a excessive watermark for enterprise funding typically) however had dropped in 2024 when the corporate raised a mixture of fairness and debt.
O’Leary, who stepped into the CEO function on the finish of 2023, declined to touch upon its present valuation however mentioned that the corporate could also be seeking to increase extra later this yr.
Elvie’s tip into chapter 11 speaks to a few of the wider challenges on the planet of femtech, which is estimated to be a $60 billion market this yr however has confronted quite a lot of headwinds. The market since 2021 has continued to be difficult for later-stage startups, particularly these that aren’t targeted virtually solely on AI. There usually are not lots of exit alternatives for femtech companies in the intervening time. Plus, as O’Leary factors out, the market (eyeing that $60 billion determine, little question) has been flooded with a plethora of cheaper merchandise.
And, as ever, {hardware} — or not less than the power to show {hardware} startups into worthwhile companies — stays exhausting.
Willow’s hope is that its acquisition of Elvie marks the beginning of some wider consolidation and Willow’s personal efforts to construct out a wider platform: if exit alternatives are few and much between, then make your personal platform and change into the consolidator.
Femtech as a class actually arose over time because it turned, due to the cloud, smartphones and improvements in large information analytics, simpler to construct apps to interact with the market, and {hardware} prototypes launched through crowdfunding platforms to gauge shopper curiosity. These merchandise additionally got here out of a extra empowered demographic demanding tech to assembly their very own wants. Now, Willow’s problem — and alternative — can be to see if it may possibly convert that into revenue over time.
“We wish to present that femtech merchandise usually are not solely nice tales, however nice companies,” she mentioned.
