(Bloomberg) -- Flo Health Inc., a period and fertility tracking app, has raised $200 million from private equity firm General Atlantic, as historically overlooked women’s health issues gain more investor attention.
The London-based company, which has 68 million monthly active users and about five million paying subscribers, will use the investment to increase headcount and expand its offering to cater to women experiencing menopause, the company said on Tuesday. The funding round, which will complete in the coming weeks, values Flo at more than $1 billion, the company said.
Femtech is steadily gaining user and investor traction, with apps like Flo, Clue and Ava analyzing intimate details including menstrual cycles and sexual activity to help women monitor their health and fertility. Femtech companies raised $4.4 billion between 2021 to 2023, according to PitchBook, and the market is projected to reach $60 billion by 2027, according to Emergen Research.
Women’s health is an “age-old category that has seen historical underinvestment,” Jessie Cai, Principal at General Atlantic said in an emailed statement.
Founded in 2015 by Belarusian brothers Dmitry and Yuri Gurski, Flo lets users track more than 70 symptoms and provides tailored health insights, wellness tips and a discussion forum. The company said it expects gross bookings of $200 million in 2024, up about 50% from 2023. As part of the transaction Cai and her General Atlantic colleague Tanzeen Syed will join Flo’s board of directors.
Flo has built an enormous data trove and employs 33 data scientists to study women’s health, but its handling of users’ information has attracted regulatory scrutiny. A US Federal Trade Commission lawsuit alleged the startup shared sensitive health information with data analytics providers including Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Flo settled with the FTC in 2021 without admitting to any wrongdoing. It’s currently facing a class-action suit in Canada stemming from the same FTC charges.
“We are dedicated to ensuring the utmost privacy and care for our users and their health data, and have pursued the highest standards of certification,” said Dmitry Gurski, Flo’s chief executive officer, adding that Flo has never sold or shared user information with third parties for the purpose of advertising.
Data privacy of femtech apps has become an even thornier issue since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, removing the constitutional right to have an abortion. Many American users deleted period tracking apps for fear that their data could be used against them in states where abortion is illegal. Flo introduced an Anonymous Mode feature in response, allowing people to use the app without sharing their name, email or IP address.
In October, the company launched Flo for Partners, a feature designed to help educate and inform men about their female partner’s cycle and symptoms.
Flo previously raised $50 million at an $800 million valuation in 2021, in a round co-lead by venture capital firms VNV Global and Target Global.
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