Issue 21: Data privacy crackdown on FemTech apps | $2.2 for Pumpspotting | AIVF boosts IVF success
Issue 21: Data privacy crackdown on FemTech apps | $2.2 for Pumpspotting | AIVF boosts IVF success
+ more in your weekly round-up of FemTech and women's health innovation news
Hi! Welcome to issue #21 of FutureFemHealth, here to bring you your weekly news about women’s health innovation and FemTech (w/c 11 September 2023).
🌟 Coming up today we’ve got:
✅ UK’s regulator to review data privacy in period and fertility apps
🔥 Pumpspotting raises $2.2M in seed II funding
❤️ AIVF - the AI tool that helps boost IVF success
Do you have news to share from the world of FemTech and women’s health innovation? Let me know at anna@futurefemhealth.com
But first…
I enjoyed a brilliant night at the FemTech Lab Accelerator Autumn cohort kick-off in central London last week.
If you’ve not come across the FemTech Lab Accelerator, it’s a 12-week scheme to help FemTech founders fast-track their businesses.
This year’s finalists come from all around the world including India, Australia and the UK.
I enjoyed meeting Jenny, the founder of Ovum (a formulated supplement that shortens the time to pregnancy), the founding team from Papaya (a compostable, plastic-free sanitary pad) and Bethan from Agile Life Sciences (building Menoguide - an innovative menopause test that uses vaginal microbiome changes).
Photography is clearly not my strong point, but above is a little snap from the night taken as Accelerator director Tatiana introduced the teams.
🗞️ Headlines
🩸 It’s time to level up data privacy in period and fertility apps
A new poll has found that people who use fertility and period apps now care more about how their personal data will be used than any other factor.
The poll, by the UK’s independent regulator for data protection, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), found that users said transparency over how their data was used (59%) and how secure it was (57%) were bigger concerns than cost (55%) and ease of use (55%) when it came to choosing an app.
Emma Kearney, Deputy Commissioner of Regulatory Policy at the ICO, said:
“These statistics suggest data security is a significant concern for women when it comes to choosing an app to track their periods or plan or prevent pregnancy. That’s not surprising, given the incredibly sensitive and personal information involved.”
A new review of FemTech apps
The ICO has now launched a review into period and fertility apps.
This includes a short survey inviting users to share their experiences with these apps - specifically in terms of the use of personal information.
While the survey itself feels a little tokenistic (just three high-level questions), the review also includes:
contacting companies who provide period and fertility tracking apps to find out how they are processing users' personal information.
commissioning focus groups and user testing, and working with key stakeholders such as the National Data Guardian, Dr Nicola Byrne, and women’s health groups, including Wellbeing of Women.
Why is the ICO carrying out the review?
Data privacy in FemTech apps has been on the radar of the ICO for a while now.
At an event in early April 2023, John Edwards, the UK’s Information Commissioner, said that the ICO would be “going after providers of women’s health apps and auditing them, and getting them to change any practices that are non-compliant.”
The latest announcement talks also about sharing best practice too. ICO’s Emma Kearney said:
“We want to make sure women can use these services with confidence, so we’re calling for people to share their experiences.
“This will help us understand whether there are areas that need improvement – from how easy it is to navigate privacy policies to whether people have experienced upsetting and unexpected targeted advertising.
“We also know some users feel these apps bring many benefits and we’d like to hear about these too.”
Is this review needed?
While most period and fertility apps operate ethically when it comes to protecting user information and data privacy, there is a long history of data being shared or sold to third parties and a lack of transparency about how data is used.
In a separate report last year, The Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps (known as ORCHA), reviewed 25 popular period tracking apps against 350+ criteria, including the data security considerations. After assessing apps against data security requirements, it found just over half (56%) met ORCHA’s minimum data security requirements.
Commenting on this latest review, Liz Ashall-Payne, ORCHA’s CEO told me via email that:
“We support this move [to launch a review] by the ICO. Our examination of the privacy policies of 25 period tracker apps revealed concerns around transparency of privacy.
“We would be keen to work with the ICO to ensure best practice, such as explicitly asking users for permission for data sharing within the app itself, rather than bundling this into the Terms and Conditions, which very few people read.”
We need more transparency and control
And that’s the key issue: transparency.
While General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules in the UK protect data, apps need to also make sure users know exactly what they’re signing up to and be given straightforward ways to opt-out and in to the data collection they choose. (If this topic interests you, I wrote more on all of this in an article earlier this year).
That’s probably going to need apps to step-up when it comes to educating users and raising awareness too: A Deloitte study reported that less than 10% of people read the terms and conditions and user agreements for the websites and mobile applications that they use.
So, what does good look like?
Cybersecurity consultant Natasha Singh suggests that best practice falls into three pillars: transparency, control and security by design.
And as I would argue - all of these factors need clear, prominent communication and educational content from apps to help users understand how data privacy works.
As a real-life example, I really like Clue’s simple and user-centric approach to explaining its terms and conditions. It also gets ahead of the inevitable questions about selling data with this blog post about how it actually makes money.
And as a final point, we mustn’t forget that not all data sharing is bad (if you agree to it). Both Natural Cycles’ and Clue’s de-identified user data is being used to analyse the impact of COVID-19 infections and vaccinations on the menstrual cycle.
There’s incredible opportunity to do good with the data from FemTech. Let’s just hope we don’t trip ourselves up by breaking the trust that we need to get there.
The ICO period and fertility app user survey closes on 5 October. You can add your views here.
💰 Funding, deals and investment news
📌 Pumpspotting raises $2.2M in seed II funding The baby feeding support platform helps workplaces to create feeding-friendly cultures. It’s found that US employers who invest in a comprehensive workplace lactation program (where maternity leave is so short) can see an increase in retention rates from an average of 59% to 94%. Pumpspotting will use funds to expand its enterprise capabilities. The round was led by Sincere Corporation and Maine Venture Fund (Source: FemTech World)
📌 Yoni health, Europe’s first period biobank announces a pre-seed funding round. With funding, Yoni hopes to accelerate growth and expand its research initiatives. You can also sign up on the Yoni Health website to donate your period blood for research! (Source: Yoni Health)
📌 A profile of investor Sasha Kelemen of Leerink Partners. This is a great insight into the life of an investor. Sasha’s team is focused on women’s health and last year worked on the sale of menopause platform Gennev to Unified Women’s Healthcare. (Source: Business Insider)
📌 Why this fund invested in this pelvic health start-up Axena Health. Avestria Ventures explains that they invested Axena Health because Axena had found a specific problem to solve - not knowing how to do kegels correctly. I’m sharing mainly because Avestria is also inviting other women’s health start-ups to get in touch! (Source: Avestria Ventures on LinkedIn)
🌟 More news from this week
📌 AIVF is the AI tool that helps boost IVF success. A superb feature in The Times about next-gen IVF company AIVF as it prepares to rollout its AI tool to 12 clinics in Britain, after international success. AIVF uses AI technology to help clinicians select embryos that have a greater chance of success. They say this reduces time to pregnancy by 20% and therefore can also help reduce costs of IVF. (Source: The Times (paywall) and AIVF)
📌 SpaceBorn United is working on an IVF incubator to conceive babies in space. Lots happening in fertility! This Netherlands-based start-up has begun research for an IVF incubator in space - although even testing is many years (and I’m sure much ethical debate) away. (Source: BBC Science Focus)
📌 YouTube UK introduces ‘badges’ for verified healthcare workers to combat spread of health misinformation online. This one’s useful to know if you have a YouTube channel as part of your comms mix. Now, when people search for a health topic on YouTube, the top of the search results will first show a "health shelf" - a list of videos explicitly labelled to be from approved health sources. (Source: BBC)
📌 Hello! magazine expands its menopause hub to North America. More proof that menopause really is on the radar of every brand right now. An audience of 18 million will now be able to access up-to-date content on menopause via the popular online magazine platform. Hello! magazine has partnered with non-profit Let’s Talk Menopause for its hub, and builds on the success of its earlier UK hub launch. (Source: Hello! magazine)
📌 FemTech India launches first of its kind coffee table book. It’s the first book on FemTech in the country and aims to spotlight FemTech through market insights, expert perspectives, founder interviews, and industry projections. (Source: Outlook India)
📌 Direct Line pays woman £65k in menopause discrimination claims. The business had failed to make reasonable adjustments when their employee’s role was affected by menopause symptoms. Employment tribunals like these are on the up - with figures showing 14 for the first six months of 2023, compared to 18 in the whole of 2022 - bringing to light the importance of menopause in the workplace support. (Source: Personnel Today and Workingwise)
📌 Gates Foundation Report says seven low-cost innovations could save two million mothers and babies by 2030. On the list is an AI-enabled portable ultrasound that helps nurses and midwives monitor high-risk pregnancies in settings without resources. (Source: Financial Times)
📌 Pelvic care start-up Elana Health rebrands. The course, product and resource provider is now called Peli Health (Source: Peli Health)
📄 Govt & policy news
📌 UK: The Govt has launched the first Women's Reproductive Health Survey for England to help shape future policy. It’s a follow-on from the Women’s Health Strategy launched last year. This new survey invites views on periods, fertility, pregnancy, contraception and menopause. But it’s been quickly criticised by campaigners for setting an age limit for participation at 55-years-old. (Source: Daily Mail and Gov.UK)
And that’s all for this week!
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See you next time,
Anna