Femtech With Femidi

This just in: you can now get your HANX on over at femidi, the world’s first femtech marketplace bringing you lifestyle and wellness products "powered by brands, products and services prioritising womxn's health, lives and bodies."

Championing everything from periods to pleasure, we caught up with femidi co-founders Hannah and Kim, for the lowdown on launching a revolutionary platform in the midst of a global pandemic (no biggie 👀), the inspiration behind bringing femtech brands together, and how they unwind.

HEY HANNAH AND KIM, CAN YOU TELL US HOW (OR WHERE!) YOUR INTEREST IN FEMTECH FIRST BEGAN?

It was a gradual culmination of things. A few years ago I had come off the pill after a three-year stint, my periods were irregular, my girlfriend recommended using a period tracking app to help ease my anxiety and get back in sync. 

Around the same time I learnt that mainstream period products could contain odour neutralisers, dyes, pesticides, and fragrances, I was stunned that period products were able to include such toxic ingredients, which led me to look for alternatives. 

A little bit of Googling introduced me to the term ‘femtech’. I'd consider myself the 'target audience' for many of the brands in femtech and was surprised there wasn't a central place for me to discover and purchase all of these innovations online, and so the idea of femidi was born.

AS CREATORS OF THE WORLD’S FIRST FEMTECH MARKETPLACE, WERE THERE ANY UNEXPECTED OR PARTICULARLY REWARDING MOMENTS THROUGHOUT THIS PROCESS?

Mainly, it’s been amazing how receptive the brands we reached out to (and now have stocked) have been to femidi and the concept of femidi. It’s been a reasonably painless process, which I think is reflective of how much sense femidi makes to the women’s health market. A particularly rewarding moment, one of our first customers messaged us to let us know how much they loved the concept of femidi and the products we have available.

LAUNCHING A BUSINESS DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC: IT’S NBD. *COUGH* WHAT ARE YOUR THREE TOP BUSINESS BUILDING TIPS FOR FUTURE ENTREPRENEURS?

• Stay consistent, just aim to do a little bit every day.
• Take a break (everyone performs better once they feel rested and restored).
• No fear, just do it.

HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT SOURCING BRANDS FOR THE PLATFORM? WHAT IS THE ARCHETYPAL ‘FEMIDI’ BRAND?

Our interest in ‘femtech’ is what led us to femidi. So our first port of call was to reach out to ‘femtech brands’. All of the brands on femidi provide a genuine ethos and product or service that meets the needs of women. Each brand has innovated a solution for women that is better for women in the way it’s designed and it’s ingredients.

FROM PODCASTS TO PLAYLISTS, WHAT DO YOU LISTEN TO FOR MOTIVATION RN?

I love the Michelle Obama podcast, and obviously Cardi-B, Megan Thee Stallion and Beyonce are on my most played songs, they get me motivated.

WITH THE PANDEMIC, WE’RE SEEING CONSUMER TURNING TO ONLINE RETAILERS MORE THAN EVER - DO YOU THINK THIS TREND EXTENDS TO FEMTECH?

Yes, prior to launching femidi we did some market research on both marketplaces and femtech, both are predicted to have incredible growth in the next five years. The perfect mix of new-gen founders and feminist advocacy has allowed a once-neglected niche to evolve into an industry with a market potential of $50 billion by 2025: femtech. And in just 6 years, it has brought in approximately $1 billion in overall funding. A projected $4.8 trillion in retail ecommerce sales are projected worldwide for 2021. Companies embracing ecommerce marketing strategies are experiencing rapid growth. In 2017, there were 1.66 billion online buyers. This number is expected to skyrocket to 2.14 billion by 2021.

LET’S GET REAL: HOW DO YOU WIND DOWN WHEN YOU’RE WFH?

To be honest, sometimes it’s hard to switch off, particularly having basically been in the flat for 6 months. It's difficult to separate work and home, but at the moment yoga and meditation have been really amazing in helping me relax and signify the end of work.

WHERE DO YOU SEE FEMIDI IN FIVE YEARS TIME?

We’ve got lots of ideas and passion around how we’d like to develop femidi. We’d like to see femidi as an integral part of womxn’s self-care and womxn’s health.

Thanks Hannah and Kim, huge congrats on the launch! Discover the world’s first femtech marketplace here and get your follow on at femidi’s Instagram right here. Spoiler alert: their meme game is on point... 💁 

Join the conversation over on our HANX Life forum here.