Health tech founders say the staggering gap in VC funding for women founders and women’s reproductive health research is perpetuating an ongoing problem—woman, girls and gender-diverse people simply aren’t able to access the same healthcare options as everyone else.

The gender terms used throughout much of this article were specifically chosen in the interest of gender inclusivity. However, as many of the studies specifically addressed the issues of cisgender women, it would have been inaccurate to include transgender women and gender non-conforming people in these results, despite the fact that cisgender women, transgender people, and gender non-conforming people experience many of the same biases and health challenges. It should be noted that transgender and gender non-conforming people also experience additional barriers.

Convincing venture capitalists to support businesses owned by women and gender-diverse people is tough.

Persuading them to fund reproductive healthcare products for those same groups? Challenging, to say the least. Raising funds for a business that’s owned by and sells products for women or gender-diverse people? You might as well try to win the lottery.

Let’s put this in context. In 2024, 20 per cent of private sector businesses in Canada were majority-owned by women—but they only received four per cent of the country’s venture capital investments. According to a 2022 McKinsey report, only about three per cent of all digital health funding goes to FemTech companies.

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