Why women’s health could be health care’s next boom

By Kulleni Gebreyes, M.D., vice chair and US Life Sciences and Health Care Industry leader, Deloitte

Venture funding in health tech jumped nearly 30%—to $28.6 billion—between 2024 and 2025, according to a Deloitte analysis of the Pitchbook Funding Database. At the same time, however, investments in women’s health fell 56%, from nearly $1.2 billion to $478 million. Despite the drop in total investment, valuations for companies focused on women’s health continued to rise, according to the database. This could signal a shift toward fewer, more mature companies receiving larger investments—an indicator that the women’s health market may be entering a more selective, high-potential growth phase, which could lead to better health outcomes.

Consider this: Investor-backed companies that are focused on women’s health issues generated more than $100 billion in acquisitions and IPOs between 2000 and 2025.ⁱ The success of these companies could indicate a growing recognition of the market potential…and a strong business opportunity. More than 20 companies that are focused on women’s health have achieved valuations of $1 billion or more—nearly half of those have taken place over the past five years. Some startups are scaling their businesses to treat women who are seeking midlife care.ⁱⁱ Here are a few examples:

• Midi Health reached a $1 billion valuation early this year by focusing on virtual care for perimenopause and menopause.ⁱⁱⁱ
• ŌURA’s valuation doubled in late 2025 after expanding its smart-ring features to include menstrual tracking and pregnancy insights.^iv
• Flo Health, which developed a women’s health app, reached a $1 billion valuation in 2024.^v

These examples show women’s health as a sector for potential investment returns—rather than a niche. Organizations that develop a gender-intelligent business strategy may be well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity. Diagnostics, digital health platforms, and connected devices have been among the most significant drivers of recent growth.^vi

Gender-data gap in research may have led to market inefficiencies

Women were not included in Phase I and early Phase II clinical drug trials until the 1990s over concerns that hormonal fluctuations might impact results or that participation could affect reproductive health.^vii Preclinical studies relied primarily on male lab animals.^viii As a result, there are knowledge gaps about women’s health. Conditions such as PMS, menopause, and endometriosis represent about 14% of the disease burden for women but receive less than 1% of research funding.^ix This gap represents an opportunity for entrepreneurs, investors, and life sciences and health care organizations. Emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), could help develop clinical data in this area. AI, for example, could help to identify biological and physiological differences across a wide range of conditions. This could transition health care from being “gender neutral”—which often means gender exclusive—to being gender intelligent.

Gender-intelligent organizations could gain access to a potentially massive market representing approximately 50% of the population. Physiological and biological differences between men and women affect how health conditions develop, how symptoms appear, and how treatments work. During my pediatric-medicine rotation, my fellow residents and I were cautioned against viewing children as “small adults.” While children have less body mass than adults, they also have different physiology: they tend to metabolize drugs differently and their organs are at different stages of development. The same principle applies to gender differences.

Modern medicine was developed using a male model that assumes men and women are biologically the same. As a result, medical research has historically viewed women’s health through a narrow lens of issues related to fertility and pregnancy.^x However, women tend to spend more of their lives managing non-reproductive conditions such as cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases, and mental health conditions.^xi Every cell in the body has a chromosomal makeup. Arteries, muscles, and immune systems all behave differently depending on whether a person has two X chromosomes or X and Y chromosomes.^xii

The market misalignment in women’s health

To help them capitalize on the emerging women’s health market, organizations should first try to identify an unmet need, then develop a solution. But addressing women’s health involves more than innovation. Solutions should be designed with coding, reimbursement, and policy considerations in mind from the outset. Research efforts often begin without a clear path to implementation or payment. In some cases, basic research is needed to better understand gender-based physiological and biological differences. But without a coordinated ecosystem, promising discoveries may never reach patients.

This challenge can be viewed as a causal chain:

• If a question isn’t asked, the unmet need is never identified.
• If the need isn’t identified, investors are unlikely to fund research.
• Without research, gender-specific data lacks clinical evidence.
• Without clinical evidence, gender-intelligent care and scientific breakthroughs cannot occur.
• Without scientific breakthroughs, new therapies or devices cannot be developed, coded, or reimbursed.
• Without coding and reimbursement, investment for research slows.
• Without accessible investment, the question isn’t asked, and the cycle continues.