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Women ’s health tech , which leverage innovations in AI , smartphones and link vesture to give woman more insights into reproductive and catamenial health , continues to bring in momentum with substance abuser , and investor are following .

London - basedFlo Health , a fertility - focused period - track app , on Tuesday said it has lift a $ 200 million Series C from General Atlantic . The financing appreciate the inauguration at more than $ 1 billion post - money , which , per the company , make it the first “ purely digital ” women ’s wellness app to become a unicorn . That eminence is challenging to stipulate , since it seems that there are no clear “ purely digital ” unicorn in the womanhood ’s wellness class for comparison . ( Maven , which describes itself as a health clinic and benefit platform , was last prise at $ 1.33 billion in 2022 . )

The fundraise comes after an impressive run of growth , which is illustrious considering the blow Flo has face , including one around anow - settled , privacy - tie in regulatory investigationfrom the Federal Trade Commission , and the generally bearish state of the applied science market . The company says it has serve some 380 million users globally so far , and it currently has 70 million monthly active users of its free production , and another 5 million who are ante up for the premium variant .

The funding will be used both to attract more user , as well as to appeal to former users with a focus on menopause and perimenopause . The inauguration may also depend to make acquisitions to originate inorganically , potentially with more support from General Atlantic .

“ We are excited about their big vision and the innovation ahead for the broad char ’s health and health ecosystem , ” said Jessie Cai , principal at General Atlantic , in a statement . “ We trust Flo is a category leader and await forward to leveraging our bass expertness across troubled consumer technology and subscription platforms to endorse the company ’s continued growth . ” Cai and Tanzeen Syed , MD , and head of consumer net and technology at General Atlantic , are both joining Flo ’s board .

investor have poured near $ 5 billion into woman ’s health startups over the last three days , which represents a jumping of around 60 % on the three years prior to that , per PitchBook data reference by theFinancial Times . Part of that increase has been due to a speedy speedup of technology , including the use of AI , to provide more insights to users , and part is probable a sign of the times , since digital health is often part and parcel of land of health care .

Flo ’s last stave , a Series B of$50 million in 2021 , was part of that investment swing . This latest $ 200 million — lift after “ significant inbound involvement , ” the CEO severalise me — points to more acceleration for the biggest players .

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Flo ’s origin are quite interesting : CEO Dmitry Gurski co - founded the company with his twin brother after accumulating year of experience build other seaworthiness and health apps . The pair are part of the massive trove of tech talent that has left Belarus for other land in the wake of geopolitical upheaval .

The following is an interview with Gurski about the funding , Flo , and affair in between , edited for clarity and length . It was conducted over email .

Many [ fair sex ’s wellness ] inauguration like Elvie also build ironware as part of their product . Do you have any plans in that area ? If not , what ’s on the horizon for Flo ?

We do n’t have any design to build hardware into our product . Our priority is to continue integration with equipment like Apple Watch and render a personalized experience for user across long time and demographics , and personal health goals . This includes provide precise cycle and symptom forecasting , improving individualised wellness brainwave , and strengthen our localization in outside regions .

You come out Flo in 2015 having never ramp up any health care apps antecedently . What get you interested in this field ?

My brother and I had a background in building health and fitness apps prior to Flo , let in apps for fitness , yoga and running . I also have a degree in pharmaceutics and drug intention .

However , I ascertain the challenges women confront in healthcare , and realise there was a critically underserved crack in the women ’s wellness market . At the time we establish Flo , the market place was full of unsubdivided apps offering surface - level information and tools , but there was a lack of origination focused on education and individualise insights . So , we rig out to create Flo . We envisioned a platform that would empower char with exact , personalized perceptiveness throughout their reproductive journey .

We listen to countless women worldwide , gathering sixth sense on their outlook . We brought in Dr. Anna Klepchukova as our chief aesculapian military officer , who give the Flo Medical and Scientific Advisory Board , which now includes over 120 + lead expert in distaff health .

What would you say has been Flo ’s find or unique selling point ?

We ’re lofty that Flo suffice one in four U.S. women today . Flo offers the wide solidification of features compared to other full stop tracking apps across several mode ( tracking , trying to conceptualise , pregnancy , etc . ) .

Flo sets itself apart with features like “ Anonymous Mode ” for enhanced privateness , and Symptom Checker for personalized health perceptivity . Specifically , our weapons platform offers curated cycle and ovulation trailing , and users can monitor over 70 symptom and access various feature to raise their intellect and management of their health . In 2023 , Flo establish “ Flo for cooperator , ” which lets users educate and empower their partners with scientific insights into their catamenial and reproductive wellness .

You were the subject of an FTC investigating several yr ago , which has now been settled . How did that impact business ? What did you do to change your recitation at Flo ?

We did indeed reach a small town with the FTC in 2021 . It is important to note that agreement was in no way an admission of wrongdoing , but — as a grow company — a decisiveness to avoid the time and expense of judicial proceeding and to put the matter behind us decisively . Flo did not at any time sell data .

We have a comprehensive privacy and surety framework with a robust set of policies and procedures to safeguard our substance abuser ’ data , and these are on a regular basis review both internally and using self-governing auditors .

We are proud to be the only dual - certify female health app to hold both theISO 27001 Security and ISO 27701 Privacy certification .

What have you accept aside from that FTC experience ?

Our anteriority is , and always has been , to protect our users ’ information . We sympathise that our user place trust in our technology to keep their sensitive information private , and the responsibility we have to provide a safe platform for them to utilize . That ’s why we apply measures designed to protect private exploiter data point and privateness right wing . We are lucid about our information practices and hold fast rigorously to applicable regulations .

You currently have both free and premium ware offerings . How do you design to develop that in the longer terminus ? How do you get people to move from free to pay up ?

Our subscription offer will remain our substance business model , and there are no plans to change that .

As part of our next maturation phase , we will focalize on enlarge our exploiter base . We will pass our reach to untapped user section by develop features for women live perimenopause and menopause , and partner of our exist user through our “ Flo for Partners ” feature article .

Do you monetise the pay tier up of substance abuser in any way ? If so , how ? Do you design to ?

Our monetization scheme is through our bounty subscription , which provide additional features and insights to users . We endlessly introduce to enhance the note value of our premium offering without compromising the core functionality of our detached version .

Will you continue to keep the gratis grade indefinitely ?

We do n’t have any plans to switch our line of work model , as it has test to be very successful .

Can you blab out a little about where your user are site currently and their mean years ? ( I ’m guessing the U.S. is your biggest securities industry but would love to know the actual proportion . )

Flo keep a substantial and growing mien in North America and Western Europe . Our average user age is 18 - 35 , but it ’s important for us to cater to user at all stage of their reproductive life story . That is why one of our key focal point , as part of this next stage of growth , is extending our grasp to untapped user segments .

What are the primary differences between commercial enterprise in the U.S. versus Europe or other parts of the world ? Does a particular market ’s healthcare organisation play a role ( for instance , in the UK we have the NHS ) ?

The primary departure is mostly the propensity for multitude to ante up for a premium subscription . We see different conversion [ pace ] to premium in dissimilar countries .

We ’re also aware that in some region , there is a huge interruption in women ’s wellness divine service , and cleaning woman might be less able to pay for a premium subscription , which was important for us to address . Our worldwide pro - social plan provides free access to Flo Premium across 66 countries , including India , Indonesia and Nigeria , with nearly 16 million women already gain .

You are to begin with from Belarus . How has the billet in that part of the earth impacted your trajectory as an investor and entrepreneur ?

I have been experience and working in London , from our HQ , for a while now . Regarding the recent events , I ’m golden that our patronage has n’t been directly impacted . We ’ve always maintained a global mentality , and Russia has never been a important part of our market place .

It look also like a big part of your team is in Lithuania . Do you plan to stay doing the absolute majority of evolution there ( strike these are R&D prole ) ?

Flo Health is headquartered in London , but we do have a major hub in Vilnius , Lithuania . We be after to invest in top - level talent , with an accent on engineering , in both region .

Through your investment firm , Palta , you ’ve been at the table for a number of acquisitions of portfolio companies , include MSQRD , which Facebook acquired . What has that taught you about building Flo ?

The most significant affair I ’ve learned is the importance of create the secure possible product for a large market place at the correct time . This insight has been cardinal to our success and development . My experience with other company has supply me with valuable insight on how to grow a business organization in effect . From the beginning , we understood the import of timing and the need to turn to a substantial market place with a gamy - calibre product .

For clarity , I have not been part of or require in Palta since 2018 , when Flo reached major ontogenesis . In fact , the Palta investing caller was created after the origin of Flo Health . I do participate in board meetings and sometimes advise , but otherwise my focal point is 100 % dedicated to Flo .