As women’s health takes center stage for the first time in history, Leeds alumni and students see massive potential in this subsector's future.

Ten years ago, “menopause” wasn’t mentioned in mixed company. There weren’t conversations at the water cooler about infertility. Women didn’t ask their doctors about pelvic health.

At work, you’d have been shocked to find perimenopause support, fertility care and maternity benefits offered by the largest employers in the U.S.

That’s because historically, the health-care industry has largely overlooked the complex biology of women, leaving them to struggle with the underdiagnosis of medical conditions, untrained doctors, fragmentation of care and inadequate representation in clinical trials.

But within the last decade, technological advances and evolving societal attitudes toward women’s health have started shifting the paradigm: The medical community is recognizing women’s health needs, employers are offering more benefits, and investors are realizing the vast potential in women’s health innovation.

What is FemTech?

The gradual awakening to inequities in health care has spawned a sector of technology designed to address health issues suffered solely, differently or disproportionately by women—from menstrual tracking apps and sexual wellness products to cardiovascular medical devices and mental health therapies.

The term “FemTech” has been around since 2016, when the co-founder of one of the first period-tracking apps, Ida Tin, coined it. She wanted a way to encapsulate technology-driven solutions in the women’s health space, including products, diagnostics, medical devices, digital therapies, consumer applications and services.

Leeds graduate Kristin Apple (MBA’08), president of an innovation strategy consultancy called LINUS, focused on helping health organizations grow, takes issue with the term “FemTech.” She explained that the industry is much more than technological products and services—it’s about women’s health.

“All health care today is enabled by technology—that’s a given. It’s not about the technology; it’s about how tech is enabling us to get better results by gaining insights into the diagnosis and treatment of conditions that affect a women’s physical and emotional well-being.”

She pointed out that the 2023 initiative passed by the Biden administration to increase research on women’s health is an example of the movement toward acknowledging the need for health care tailored to women.

“This is about the growth and destigmatization of women’s health. It’s about the broader picture of women’s health,” she said.

Opportunities and obstacles

Today, the FemTech market has an estimated value of $50 to $60 billion. By 2027, it is estimated to be worth $1 trillion, according to forecasts by the nonprofit organization FemTech Focus.

A 2022 study by McKinsey’s Health-care Systems & Services Practice revealed what the estimates show: that the women’s health sector is growing at an incredible rate. Public awareness, company formation and funding are surging. The opportunities for multiple stakeholders, including investors, researchers, health care providers, employers, insurers, and pharmaceutical and medical-device companies are undeniable.

Entrepreneurs are seizing these opportunities in droves. More than 60% of FemTech startups were founded between 2017 and 2022, and there has been a 1,000% increase in the number of companies over the last 10 years, according to FemHealth Insights research.

Eighty percent of those startups were founded by women. However, many have met obstacles in gaining funding—a well-known discrepancy in the startup world. A study in 2022 showed that women entrepreneurs are 63% less likely to get VC funding than men (PitchBook).

Another challenge is that investors in tech are mostly men, and for some, there’s a lack of knowledge or comfort in understanding women’s biology—and stigmas still abound.

The seers and believers

Nonetheless, it’s hard to dispute that the market potential is huge; FemTech is an underserved market that’s ripe for growth and investment. As a demographic, women spend an estimated $500 billion a year on medical expenses (PitchBook). Modern technologies for this population are not only transformative but lucrative.

A growing syndicate of venture capitalists, made up mostly of women, are making a substantial impact in the space. And the next generation of FemTech investors is gearing up to do the same.

 “I think people are beginning to see the power of investing in FemTech and it’s really exciting.”

Gwyneth Brass (Ent, Fin’26)

Zoe Cope, a Leeds sophomore studying finance and accounting, has been interested in FemTech since high school, when she and her friends started using the menstrual tracking app Flo. She explained that it gave them a sense of control through knowledge.

As a Leeds Scholar and member of the Business and Engineering Women in Tech (BEWiT) program, she fine-tuned her vision for making an impact. “I see myself as contributing to the industry through working in finance.

“Women are solving issues for women that health care providers have ignored,” said Cope. “That’s why I want to enter private markets—to improve the lives of many through investments.”

Cope has an idea of where to start: “FemTech is being driven by female entrepreneurs—but funding doesn’t come easily for them—we need to see female entrepreneurs dominate this market.”

Birth of the first unicorn

Worth about $1.35 billion and widely considered the first U.S. unicorn dedicated to women’s and family health, according to Fortune, Maven Clinic is the world’s largest virtual clinic that serves some of the biggest employers, including Microsoft and AT&T.

Its founder, CEO Kate Ryder, not only convinced employers to provide better benefits for women, but she helped prove to investors that women’s health had massive potential as a business. To make her point, she argued that the lack of medical attention to menopause was not only harmful to women but was a lost opportunity worth $600 billion.

Angie Golden Henry (Mktg’11) is a Leeds alum and senior brand designer at Maven. “I’m energized by the opportunity to build a brand that users can trust and the challenge for our brand to stand out among very established health care brands.”

When she first started in 2018, she noted there were few tech companies focused on women’s health care. “When I came across Maven, their entire product and mission felt very unique and important, and I wanted to be a part of it,” she said. “Seeing the product make such an impact on users is incredibly rewarding.”

Having recently had her first baby, she has a new appreciation and inspiration for the work she’s doing. “The health care system in America can be so hard to navigate, especially when building a family, and companies like Maven make health care more accessible and work better for more people,” she said.

Better health means better growth

A wave of inventive companies has emerged to address menopause, IVF, endometriosis, fertility, hormone health, childbirth, osteoporosis, cancer diagnosis and more.

As women’s health improves, so does the sector’s success. The following companies are rolling out life-changing innovations that dramatically improve women’s health outcomes and propel the industry forward.

• NextGen Jane, a company that uses tampons to tell women about their reproductive health, recently raised $9 million in new funding.
• London-based Elvie, a wearable breast pump and a pelvic exercise trainer and app, raised $42 million in Series B funding.
• Midi Health, a virtual health care provider for perimenopause and menopause, reported that 91% of its patients experienced improvement in their symptoms after just two months of care. The company successfully raised $60 million in a Series B funding round this year, increasing the company’s total funding to $100 million.
• Oula, a modern maternity clinic combining obstetrics and midwifery, boasts a 26% better C-section rate and a 61% lower preterm birth rate than New York City benchmarks. It has raised more than $50 million in funding.
• Progyny, which manages fertility benefits for employers, went public in 2019 at a valuation of over $1 billion; its recent market capitalization was about $4 billion.

“This is about the growth and destigmatization of women’s health.”

Kristin Apple (MBA’08), President, LINUS

When women succeed economies flourish

Nurturing innovation within the FemTech space doesn’t help just women and investors—it has the potential to help the world. According to the nonprofit Women’s Health Access Matters, a $300 million investment into improving women’s health could generate around $13 billion for the global economy.

It also helps improve global productivity. When women leave the workforce at the peak of their careers due to the side effects of perimenopause and menopause—global productivity losses can add up to more than $150 billion a year (Ultra Violet Futures). But deploying technological and consumer-centric health solutions can enable the success of women leaders and companies.

The impact on global economies, especially those in poor countries, has not escaped Cope, who explained, “When women have more freedom over their reproductive cycle, they’re able to extend their education and have careers, allowing them to be more successful. This will eventually and inevitably lead to economic progress in third-world countries.”

When countries empower women to feel better and live longer, their economic potential soars. That’s because women are not just consumers but the primary health care decision-makers for their families; better health outcomes for women can lead to better outcomes for society.

A glimpse of the future

As women-led companies grow and consumer demand for personalized health solutions rises, a more inclusive, gender-aware health care system could help the next generation of women become inventors and founders.

Take Gwenyth Brass (Ent, Fin’26), a junior in entrepreneurship and finance at Leeds. When she learned that women generally have low expectations of the health care system, she wanted to find a way to make women more comfortable—starting with gynecologist visits.

“Women aren’t fully empowered and informed; they need to know how the procedures work. And there needs to be more trust between women and doctors,” said Brass. “It involves transparency and getting to know who the doctor is as a person.”

This past summer, she began developing her idea with fellow students in her New Venture Class and was surprised to learn that “most of the men had no idea about the anxiety of going to the gynecologist.” Like other founders before her, she successfully helped them understand a problem they had never personally dealt with.

“Male investors are getting their heads turned by the impact. I think people are beginning to see the power of investing in FemTech, and it’s really exciting . . . It’s time for a change to improve women’s lives.”

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Three newer Leeds faculty members are regularly in the spotlight for their contributions to their fields and achievements in teaching, having come to CU from top PhD programs and world-class business schools. Their inspiring examples underscore three important concepts to students: Think outside the box. Ask tough questions. Take risks.

That’s how to be innovative, and that’s how to drive progress.

ETHAN POSKANZER

Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Frank Schiff Faculty Scholar

Ethan Poskanzer explores the nature of ideas with his students, whom he considers great co-workers. He values their feedback and appreciates their intellectual openness.

That’s the foundation of an entrepreneurial environment, which Poskanzer believes is crucial for societal advancement. “My research is motivated by the idea that innovation is our best weapon to solve important social problems.” Innovation, he asserts, boosts the global economy and living standards by addressing issues like disease and climate change.

Developing transformative technologies, however, isn’t easy, and it takes time. It’s also prone to failures along the way. That’s challenging for startups, which often run out of funds. “We need to design ways for innovators to explore new possibilities and take ‘big swings’ without having to be profitable immediately,” Poskanzer noted. “I’m particularly enthusiastic about the clean technology innovation as a way to address ecological deterioration.”

His work has earned awards and has been published in Organization Science, the American Sociological Review and the American Journal of Sociology, among other leading publications.

Democratizing innovation is a central theme in his research, asking how entrepreneurs can best nurture their ideas and bring them to life. One of Poskanzer’s current projects examines how gender and luck play a role in whose projects get funded. Another study investigates the effect of entrepreneurship training on careers in Accra, Ghana. “There are a ton of entrepreneurship training programs enacted in developing economies, and we know surprisingly little about how they affect participants’ careers,” he said.

AMIT BHATTACHARJEE

Associate Professor of Marketing

The more challenging and divisive the issue, the more it interests Amit Bhattacharjee. He’s drawn to questions and solutions that leaders and policymakers often avoid because they’re “too unintuitive, taboo or politically inconvenient to be palatable.”

Bhattacharjee studies how morality shapes our understanding of the world. He notes that our moral intuitions evolved in small-scale ancestral societies with no growth or technological progress. Conversely, today’s modern markets enable rapid wealth creation, trade with strangers everywhere and occupational specialization at a global scale. Yet this fundamental mismatch makes such benefits deeply unintuitive. Whereas economists see most exchanges as mutually beneficial, the public often perceives them as zero-sum, fueling consumer distrust and policy preferences that depart from scientific consensus. Bridging this gap could help unlock markets’ potential to foster societal prosperity, he said.

His research often “considers what might be good about things that are widely regarded as bad and what might be bad about things with widespread public approval.” This unique approach has garnered recognition, including the 2017 Best Article Award from the Journal of Consumer Research and the 2023 Best Paper Award at the La Londe Conference.

Over the last two years, Bhattacharjee taught undergraduate Marketing Research and Analytics, and he will teach graduate-level Market Intelligence this fall. “The key thing I want students to take away is that whatever it is they hope to achieve in their careers or in their lives, an aptitude for data-driven thinking can help them do it better.” Both his scholarship and teaching reflect his commitment to understanding the beliefs that limit our ability to harness collective knowledge for the greater good.

NIKKI SKINNER

Assistant Professor of Accounting
Craig and Cynthia Smith Faculty Scholar

As a former Leeds student, Nikki Skinner was no stranger to CU, but when she returned as a professor, everything seemed different. What didn’t change was the energy on campus. She loves that the community doesn’t shy away from pressing issues. In her classroom, she’s fostering exactly the take-charge attitude that the Leeds culture embodies.

In just one semester, Skinner developed three new undergraduate and graduate courses on environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting, a topic that’s evolving so quickly that Skinner can’t find textbooks that keep up with the changes.

To tackle the issues, she and her students analyze current events. “I encourage students to put themselves in the shoes of managers, regulators and investors to understand why things are changing and how companies are handling ESG reporting in real time,” Skinner said.

One of her current projects examines green patenting, finding that managers are now more likely to discuss green technological investments in corporate disclosures than in the past. Innovation was traditionally “hush-hush,” she says, because companies wanted to protect proprietary information.

Skinner’s research keeps her consistently on the radar. In 2023 alone, she was named the Leeds School of Business Craig and Cynthia Smith Faculty Scholar and received the Kolb, B. Summer Teaching Fellowship and Kahle Family Award for Outstanding Leeds School Publication.

What Skinner enjoys most about teaching is learning from her students. “Each of my students offers a unique perspective. Engaging them is what really enriches the classroom.” 

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The following three faculty members exemplify Leeds’ commitment to world-class teaching and research. They continue to earn awards, media attention and accolades, but all three would humbly say their students are the rising stars, ready to take on global challenges. Their guiding principles may seem basic but are profound: The world is your classroom. Start the conversation. Never stop learning.

That’s how they’re making a difference, and that’s how they’re moving the world forward.

SARAH ZECHMAN

Professor of Accounting
Tisone Memorial Fellow

For Sarah Zechman, accounting is anything but mechanical.

Issues like environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting, blockchain reporting and big data, and corporations’ increasing use of social media are reshaping the field almost daily.

Zechman dispels the notion that accounting “equates to bookkeeping (boring!) and that accounting research is the study of ‘boring.’” She exposes students to fresh perspectives on fundamental issues, current events and trends.

After starting at Leeds in 2015 and being appointed senior associate dean of faculty in the summer of 2024, Zechman praises the school’s leadership for promoting a culture of curiosity. “Faculty are encouraged to push boundaries, collaborate across fields and reevaluate previously accepted truths.”

Two of Zechman’s projects involve studying why investors back special purpose acquisition companies despite their historically poor returns and how CEOs’ podcast appearances appear to mitigate bad news and boost brand loyalty.

Her research has been cited in prominent publications like the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times. Among her awards, Zechman twice received the Best Paper in Financial Accounting from the American Accounting Association, as well as receiving their Best Dissertation award.

“Accounting is guided by principles that require discretion and judgment—implemented by real people with their own agendas and incentives,” she said.

ASAF BERNSTEIN

Professor of Finance
Frank Schiff Faculty Scholar

Asaf Bernstein remembers what it’s like to feel bored and unseen in lectures. That’s why at the beginning of each semester, he makes sure he knows the name of each student in his classes, engaging them from day one in his undergraduate and graduate courses in finance and investment or when guiding PhD students on financial economics research.

Bernstein’s goal is to foster an inclusive connection and to help students develop practical skills, demystifying and clarifying complex financial topics.

Professional work in the real estate and corporate finance fields during pivotal events adds to his worldview, ranging from his experience of the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis to the 2010 “flash crash.” He also served as a senior academic advisor on climate issues to the Securities and Exchange Commission for a year. That knowledge enhances his research focus, which carefully looks at critical environmental goals to help inform the policies and regulations that address systemic financial risks. “History reveals how much we still don’t know,” Bernstein said.

His award-winning research has been featured in leading media, including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

Bernstein sees the Rocky Mountains as a constant source of inspiration. “You feel like you are at the frontiers, literally and metaphorically,” he said. “Working in the light and shadow of those peaks is both elevating and humbling. No matter what you do, you will always be small in their shadow, but there’s something awe-inspiring about looking up and seeing what heights can be reached.”

NATHALIE MOYEN

Professor of Finance
W.W. Reynolds Capital Markets Program Chair

Nathalie Moyen champions learning through real-world applications, partnering with MBA students in case discussions to foster decision-making. The approach has been wildly successful: In spring 2024, she was honored with the MBA Teaching Excellence Award and the Executive MBA Faculty Teaching Award.

“Students practice critical thinking skills by parsing out the important information from the noise. They actively listen to each other, and through class discussions, they make discoveries and connections together.”

Her research mirrors this teaching philosophy. In summer 2024, she collaborated with CU engineers and construction professionals to study the impact of safety investments on workforce injuries and firm performance among both private and public firms.

As the outgoing chair of the Leeds Finance Division and the incoming W.W. Reynolds Capital Markets Program Chair in fall 2024, Moyen is excited to teach the World of Business. The course uses gamification to help first-year undergraduates experience economic concepts at a “gut level.” By facing the challenges themselves, students then can understand “how our economic system allocates resources, how property rights may alleviate poverty and how individual freedoms stack up against externalities.”

The course emphasizes robust civic discourse; students lose points if they don’t pay serious attention to the merits of opposing views. Moyen believes it’s essential to know that reasonable minds can disagree, all the while supporting each student in finding their own personal values.

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Faculty across diverse disciplines are researching sustainability’s impact and exchanging findings.

“The problems of the world are what they are,” said David Drake, associate professor and chair of the Social Responsibility and Sustainability Division. “They don’t fit into partitions. We need to bring a multidisciplinary lens to it.” Drake argues that sustainability is not an issue that fits neatly into one academic department: It’s interwoven with policy, business, the law, the economics of decisions, and behavioral responses.

As public awareness and academic interest in sustainability has exploded, there’s been a greater push to study it across nearly all business disciplines and collaborate with faculty from other colleges. “One thing that has become apparent is the powerful impact of bringing smart people together from across disciplines who are all examining the same set of issues from different perspectives,” said Clare Wang, the faculty director of the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility and Plante Moran / EKS&H Faculty Fellow.

Within the Leeds School of Business, researchers are actively studying the impacts of sustainability across auditing, investing, ESG reporting, accounting, marketing and other subgenres.

"One thing that has become apparent is the powerful impact of bringing smart people together from across disciplines who are all examining the same set of issues from different perspectives.”

Clare Wang, Faculty Director of the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility​

Philip Fernbach, the Andrea & Michael Leeds Faculty Fellow and chair of the Marketing Division, co-authored a 2022 study examining why people have opinions that go against the scientific consensus, including the role of humans in causing climate change. In a follow-up project, he is studying how knowledge impacts the acceptance of new technologies, including sustainable energy and the adoption of electric vehicles.

“This research is important because technological advances are changing the world increasingly quickly,” he explained. “Understanding the behavioral underpinnings of why new technologies are or are not accepted is critical to society,” said Fernbach.

Drake pointed out that people often think of sustainability as environmental issues only. “You have to look at both,” he said. He studies how businesses can take a product or service, rethink its delivery and facilitate a better social outcome. For example, one of his studies examined how mobile money in Kenya and Uganda—a market solution to a dearth of banks in the rural, developing world—is being operationalized, what the pain points are and how business operations can be improved.

“A system can fail because it’s not environmentally sustainable, but it can also fail because it’s not socially sustainable.” Drake explained that businesses need to be cognizant of the impact they’re having on the world and adjust their behavior accordingly. “As an academic, I’m studying that. As a citizen of the world, I’m seeing that.”

Tisone Professor of Accounting Jonathan Rogers co-authored a 2023 study that examined mutual funds’ determinants in ESG investment and demonstrated evidence that mutual funds increase their holdings as portfolio firms provide more environmental disclosure. He said an ever-changing regulatory environment and the amount of money involved are two big drivers for why researchers are so interested in studying sustainability from an accounting perspective. “There is a role for our research to impact the regulations as they are being created and provide feedback to regulators about how the current environment is functioning.”

Drake said he doesn’t have a specific answer for why there’s an uptick in researching sustainability. However, he did note that there is much more recent evidence of environmental and social impacts and more public awareness. That, he said, motivates academics.

“Leeds’ long-term commitment to sustainability and social impact would seem to be precisely the kind of thing that is needed for something as inherently focused on the long-term as sustainability, right?” Wang said. “It can be hard to see how you make an impact on a global crisis, but if there is one thing we are learning, what we do here and now matters, and the lessons we learn have global importance.”

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