FemTech Israel - Technology & Innovation for Women

Studies show that about 1 in 3 women experience trauma during childbirth.  It is important to understand that trauma can be psychological, physical, or a combination of both. About 10%-15% of women experience physiological trauma during childbirth, which can manifest as perineal tears (tears in the vaginal area and perineum) or pelvic floor tears. These can lead to various complications, including chronic pain or impairment in daily functions such as bladder control or pain during intercourse. Even though women prepare extensively for childbirth, many experience it as an uncertain event that they cannot control. While trauma has many causes, one of the most common is the feeling of helplessness during labor - although the destination is known, the women are not necessarily part of the journey. Even with its many benefits, epidurals can cause women to lose feeling in their lower bodies, sometimes even losing sensation of contractions. This lack of sensation makes it difficult for the mother to synchronize her physiological responses with the process. For example, instead of receiving signals from her body on when to push, she relies on cues from the medical team. Continuing with this example, the lack of synchronization between contractions and pushing may increase the risk of perineal tears. This is just one example of the disconnection between the mother and the childbirth journey, highlighting the link between the physical and mental experience. The psychological difficulties or distress experienced by mothers who undergo traumatic childbirth may negatively affect their relationship with themselves, their environment, and their parenting abilities. CoBirth offers a non-invasive technological solution which helps to resync bodily sensations with the childbirth process, restoring the mother's connection with her body and her control and involvement in the process by providing bidirectional feedback to the birthing woman about what is occurring in her body and during labor. CoBirth is intended to reduce the burden on medical teams - doctors, nurses, and midwives. Medical teams can provide optimal care for both mother and child through the use of this product, which ensures a positive and empowering experience during childbirth. CoBirth was created with the understanding that it’s time to put the mother’s health and feelings at the center of the childbirth experience, as an integral part of the baby’s health. The goal is to enhance the childbirth experience, supporting the healthcare system and providing a tool for medical teams to deliver the best and most respectful care possible. Shaked Rosenblum🎗️ | Yuval Zelkind | Shadi Shinnawi MD-MPH

Recently, Flo Health Inc.  tracking menstrual symptoms app, announced that it had raised $200 million in a Series C funding round from General Atlantic, valuing the company at over $1 billion, making it the first purely digital consumer women’s health app to achieve unicorn status. 🦄 This is exciting news, but soon criticism arose from Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen, co-founder of Female Invest, an investment app aimed at closing the gender gap in finance. Hartvigsen pointed out that the unicorn app was “founded by men, led by men and funded by men”. Further criticisms quickly followed. Ida Tin, co-founder of Clue, also a menstrual tracking app, emphasized how easy it is for (white) men to trust other (white) men, rather than women, highlighting that the entrepreneurial journey places a lower bar for these men compared to women entrepreneurs, who are required to repeatedly prove, with multiple and diverse credentials, that their startup is viable, feasible, and worth the investment. Today, there is a fascinating and exciting variety of apps based on the similar idea for tracking menstrual symptoms. Their proliferation illustrates several very important challenges in entrepreneurship beyond the presence of women in the leading team. Firstly, the importance of execution and implementation, beyond the need for a brilliant and essential idea. Execution refers to various aspects such as research and adaptation to the target audience, interface design, organizational culture developing the product, and a lot of behind-the-scenes work like complying with regulations. Secondly, this is a fascinating case study on product branding in a world that gives significance to ethical and social aspects, such as protecting the privacy of users. These days, when abortion rights are precarious, Clue app meticulously safeguards its users' information and makes significant efforts to differentiate itself in this matter. The FemTech field has enormous potential, but it is still in its early stages. The tech and financial industries still need to get used to it and its unique challenges, as well as the innovations it brings, such as significant female presence and values. It is our collective responsibility to develop a critical eye towards places where we operate according to outdated norms—both because it's the right thing to do and because it could cause us to miss out on other unicorns. 🦄🦄🦄 Ida Tin | Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen | Shelly Bloch |Flo Health Inc. | Clue | Female Invest

This time in our hashtag #FemTechSpotlight, meet Hili Paryenti Prayenti, a software developer at Unity and co-founder of DykesWhoTech IL, the community behind the Dykeathon - a portmanteau of "dyke" (a term historically used as a slur against lesbians that we are reclaiming) and "hackathon" - a tech hackathon for queer women aimed at social causes. 🔦🔦 How does your work relate to FemTech? We are a community of proud, tech-savvy women who come together primarily to connect, and subsequently to create technological solutions for the social issues faced by the LGBTQ community and beyond. We feel a connection to the FemTech industry simply by being women who address the problems of other women (and all genders). Although our community work happens outside of our work hours (and is volunteer-based), it is still present and influences our conversations in the corridors, one-on-one meetings with managers, and lunch breaks because it is a significant part of what we do and who we are. Therefore, it can be said that the work of DykesWhoTech IL impacts our jobs and the tech industry as a whole. 🔦🔦 What inspired you in the FemTech field? Practically speaking - Amit Rahav. Two years ago, Amit initiated the Dykeathon. It was an exciting and distant dream, but with support from several outstanding women, the dream came true for the first time in April '22. Since then, every Dykeathon, meetup, and even a community gathering at a bar is, for me, a dream come true. In the second year, Ella Avivi joined our team, and talented women joined us for the mid-war meetup and the third Dykeathon. We also work closely and excitingly with the TLV LGBTQ Center in Tel Aviv. Or-Tom, our contact person and close friend from the Center, is a huge inspiration. The value-driven answer is the desire to give other proud women, and myself, the ability to bring our best qualities to the table as part of an environment where I am a majority rather than a double minority - a woman, a lesbian in a super technological environment. 🔦🔦 What unique challenges does the FemTech field face? If we look at which tech industries have flourished in recent decades, we see various tech trends - security, medtech, adtech, greentech, and more. No one dedicates time to understanding what problems are unique to women in these fields. It's simply not in our consciousness to think about a problem and ask, wait, is the solution we're proposing also relevant for women? Is there a way to tailor the solution for them? Only when I started learning about entire fields where historically there have been outrageous injustices against women (e.g., in drug trials) did I start thinking about where women might need different attention in a product. Thank you FemTech IL for bringing this incredibly important issue to the forefront. Thank you, Hili! There’s no doubt that community support can create magic ✨

מזה העשור האבוד? איך אפשר להחזיר אותו?! אירוע מדליק של קהילת WE בהשתתפות מרינה ברודסקי משלנו 😎 וטעימה של סיפורי צמיחה מהאקוסיסטם! עכשיו אצלך במייל - ניוזלטר אופטימי במיוחד 💜 זה הזמן לוודא שהוא לא הגיע לספאם שלך. ואם עוד לא נרשמת >>> https://lnkd.in/dSG3_gbZ

This time on our #FemTechSpotlight, we would like to introduce you with Karin Herman, senior patent examiner in biotechnology & head of gender and IP, Israel Patent Office. 🚀 How is your work related to the FemTech industry? In recent years, I have been exposed to and shocked by data that attest to the gap between women and men inventors - an average of ~6% of women sole inventors. The desire to narrow the gap led me to utilize my unique perspective as a civil servant in the field of intellectual property in order to raise awareness of the commercial advantages of registering intellectual property in FemTech. I work inside and outside the government system to promote this issue. I established the FemTech.GOV.IL Forum, which includes representatives from various government ministries such as the Ministry of Science, Health, and the Innovation Authority. Its goals are to expose the various possibilities that exist for encouraging Femtech from within the government service. On the international level – a precedent project of an intellectual property FemTech accelerator - will be launched in cooperation with WIPO (World IP Organization) and the Canadian Patent Office. 12 Israeli companies and 8 Canadian companies were selected and in June they will be assigned to mentors and will begin the process of exhaustion of IP rights and formulating an intellectual property strategy. 🚀 What inspired you to venture into the field of FemTech ? As a feminist, I strive to find my own way to influence and shape the way the government system treats Femtech. It became clear to me that there is a fairly low percentage of inventions in the fields of biology and medicine that specifically solve women's problems. There are currently too few patent classifications in FemTech, indicating a lag in the way the patenting world addresses problems related to the unique needs of women. The conversation with other women involved in the FemTech field and my connection with the ecosystem are also a significant source of inspiration for me.  🚀 What are the challenges facing the FemTech field as you see them from your professional position? [1] Lack of familiarity of professionals and managers in patent offices and regulatory authorities in Israel and abroad with the field of FemTech. In addition, lack of understanding of the importance of registering intellectual property in FemTech for the benefit of women's health.  [2] Perceptual barriers among patent investors that cause a lack of research and development in other areas of FemTech, except for contraception, which receive less investment. [3] Lack of knowledge bases that concentrate all intellectual property data (patents, trademarks, designs) in Femtech's fields. As a result, investment opportunities in the field are prevented from being identified or highlighted.   Thank you Karin for sharing your point of view on the FemTech ecosystem! Karin Herman

🌼 האם משבר או קושי יכולים להיות התחלה של הצלחה שאין דומה לה? אם יש לך תשובה, זה הזמן שלך להשמיע אותה 🌼 אם יש לך סיפור על צמיחה דווקא מתוך משבר: אם גילית את הצורך למיזם שלך אחרי בשורה לא טובה 🌱 אם הגעת ליעד מסוים דווקא בגלל ש"נכשלת" בעמידה ביעד אחר 🌱 אם פגשת את השותפ.ה שלך דווקא בנקודת ייאוש 🌱 אם מכל ה"לא" והדחייה למדת לקח חשוב 🌱 אם המוטיבציה לפתח את המוצר שלך הגיעה מתוך אובדן >>> אז את הסיפור שלך נרצה לשמוע ולקבל ממנו השראה >>> להשתתפות, מילוי מהיר של טופס פשוט https://lnkd.in/dcMM6wEr תייגו, שתפו והפיצו את ההשראה

"I have a gap in my resume and I don't know how to explain it, I don't want to be judged just because I was on maternity leave..." 📎🖋📌 In recent years, we can see that the job market is changing, and worldwide, paternity leave options are increasing. However, as of today, maternity leave is still primarily taken by women. When it comes to presenting work experience, sometimes the need to explain the "gap" in the timeline can be a barrier. Moreover, maternity leave often coincides with other tasks such as academic studies, relocation, a partner's job change, holidays, and other circumstances that might extend this gap. All of these make presenting work experience sensitive and challenging, mainly for women. This time, our spotlight will not focus on a new product but on a feature of a Long-standing and well-known service - LinkedIn! The platform allows you to include a "Career Break" in your professional experience section. One of the options offered under this break is "Full-time parenting." On the surface, any user can design their resume independently, and there's no need for this feature. In reality, this small feature has a significant contribution because it normalizes the phenomenon, especially coming from the most popular platform in the job market today. From the viewer's side, this section is presented like any other employment phase. It acts as a kind of 'social validation' of this status. For the mother, it validates her situation, reflecting that it is not unique to her alone and reinforcing its legitimacy. In the case of a father taking paternity leave, even better, the LinkedIn profile is an opportunity to echo the change. In the long run, we can hope that the attitude towards this period will advance and more recruiters will see its value. The series "HPI Haut Potentiel Intellectuel," (מחוננת, משודרת בכאן 11), follows Morgane Alvaro, a police consultant who is also a mother of three. Already in the first episodes, she demonstrates a wealth of knowledge that helps her solve mysteries - knowledge she gained as a full-time mom! It's not entirely related, but it's a very charming series, so it was worth mentioning. Next time you hear a new mother wondering how to present the "gap" in her resume, share this post with her :)

** עדכון: הטופס ישאר בינתיים פתוח, נשמח לשמוע מכן.ם 💜 ** שלי מנהלת פמטק ישראל כותבת: החלטתי לשתף שהניוזלטר של חודש מאי לא יצא, כי אני נמצאת בתקופה קשה. מלבד העובדה שזו תקופה מאתגרת להיות בה אזרחית ישראל והעולם בכלל, אני גם מתמודדת עם מצב רפואי מורכב במשפחה. העומס וההסחות מסיטים אותי מהיעדים שהייתי רוצה להגיע אליהם. אבל בקהילה כמו בקהילה, תמיכה ושיתוף פעולה הם מפתחות להצלחה, ולכן, אני מזמינה את הקהילה להיות בקדמת התוכן: 🌼אם יש לך סיפור על צמיחה דווקא מתוך משבר - אנחנו נשמח לשמוע! 🌼 אם גילית את הצורך למיזם שלך אחרי בשורה לא טובה 🌱 אם הגעת ליעד מסוים דווקא בגלל ש"נכשלת" בעמידה ביעד אחר 🌱 אם פגשת את השותפ.ה שלך דווקא בנקודת ייאוש 🌱 אם מכל ה"לא" והדחייה למדת לקח חשוב 🌱 אם המוטיבציה לפתח את המוצר שלך הגיעה מתוך אובדן >>> אז את הסיפור שלך נרצה לשמוע ולקבל ממנו השראה >>> להשתתפות, מילוי מהיר של טופס פשוט https://lnkd.in/dcMM6wEr תייגו, שתפו והפיצו את ההשראה 🌼 Shelly Bloch

לינק להרשמה לניוזלטר >> https://lnkd.in/dSG3_gbZ Shelly Bloch