FemHealth
Unlocking innovation in FemHealth
Women’s health has historically been under researched with the result that women are more likely to be misdiagnosed, misdosed, and mistreated, and less likely to have access to pharmacological or technological solutions to sex-specific problems.
FemHealth firms aim to close this gender health gap with innovations from a menstrual cup that monitors blood to an AI that detects breast cancers. Firms like these address vital unmet health needs for women, yet founders encounter significant barriers.
It is widely recognised that they struggle to raise funding and face digital censorship (because algorithms flag their products as ‘adult’), but there is less awareness of the difficulties they face securing insurance.
Some 76% of FemHealth founders reported barriers when seeking insurance, according to a 2024 survey by Tokio Marine Kiln and survey partner Women of Wearables. Founders said cost, complexity, understanding of women’s health, and exclusion clauses were the biggest issues.
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Unlocking Innovation in FemHealth: Planera
Dr Olivia Ahn left her career as an NHS doctor to develop the world’s first flushable sanitary pad. Kirsten Shastri, Head of Life Sciences at TMK, and Ella Henderson, a broker, visited her testing facility in Canning Town, East London for the first episode of TMK’s new film series Founder Stories, exploring the challenges faced by business looking to secure insurance for new inventions in the world of FemHealth, and MedTech.
“We want to understand the challenges these businesses face and how we can help them unlock opportunities with the right insurance product," says Shastri, who has developed IntelliMed – the first bespoke insurance product covering life sciences, cyber and IP risks under one policy - that can be tailored for FemHealth firms.
Key Facts
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47 Female Health (FemHealth) founders took part in a survey and 1:1 interviews for the TMK 2025 FemHealth Report, outlining a triple threat facing the sector across insurance, investment and digital censorship
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76% of FemHealth businesses reported struggling to access insurance they need. The main barriers included: Cost, complexity and understanding of women’s health
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Without insurance, founders cannot secure investment, run clinical trials or bring their products to market
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The FeHealth sector is worth an estimated USD28bn and is predicted to be worth USD103bn by 2030
IntelliMed
TMK's IntelliMed product is the first to cover Life Sciences, Cyber and Intellectual Property risks under one policy in the Lloyd’s market. It covers a wide array of businesses operating in the Life Sciences sector, including: medical device, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, R&D, skincare and nutraceuticals companies, including FemHealth.
View our product information sheet:
Until TMK introduced IntelliMed, there wasn’t a bespoke insurance product actively targeting FemHealth companies. Underwriters would have to piece together a package containing elements such as cyber and bodily injury, but there were holes.”
Life Sciences broker
The policy covers:
- Products liability
- Professional indemnity
- Public liability
- Medical malpractice
- Clinical trials – no fault compensation and legal liability
- Cyber
- Intellectual property
Expansions are also available for:
- Product recall costs
- R&D reinstatement costs
- Barcode restoration costs
- Reputational damage costs
- Advertising liability
- Employers’ liability
Founder Stories
Fertifa
Eileen Burbidge
Bringing Workplace Reproductive Health Out of the Shadows
Breaking through outdated assumptions remains a challenge – not only in investment circles but also in the workplace.
Planera
Dr Olivia Ahn
Redesigning Period Care for People and the Planet
Like many innovators in women’s health, Dr Ahn faced a knowledge gap where it mattered most: the investment community.
Matrix
Stiliyana Minkovska
Redesigning the Speculum to Transform Women’s Healthcare
"Women’s health is very much seen as a niche – which it shouldn’t be because we make up nearly 50% of the population. It’s a massive opportunity, but we’re only just starting to scratch the surface."
Get in Touch
Kirsten Shastri
Head of Life Sciences
Life Sciences
London
