WoW Woman in FemTech | Reenita Das, healthcare futurist and strategist, partner at Frost & Sullivan
Interview by Marija Butkovic @MarijaButkovic and Netta Levran
Reenita Das is a healthcare futurist and strategist, passionate about changing the healthcare industry. She recently got voted the top 100 women in Femtech and Healthtech. She has lived and worked in over 10 countries in the world, focusing on healthcare issues and working with the public and private sector to implement growth change strategies. Das currently serves as Transformational Health Partner and Senior Vice President and is the first woman Partner at Frost & Sullivan. In addition, she is the Founder of GLOW (Growth and Innovation of Women) program. She is also on the Board of a non profit “High Tech High Heels” Silicon Valley that focuses on increasing gender diversity for STEM. She is also an entrepreneur in residence for Vonzos partners and works on helping to get new technology to the market. In her current role, Das works on futuristic scenarios and forecasts in understanding how healthcare will operate 10 years from today, working with clients on the impact of these mega trend changes to their business. She is focused heavily on rethinking consumer business models as healthcare makes a transition to health and identifying opportunities with companies outside of healthcare to bring solutions to the healthcare sector. She is also focusing heavily on showcasing “Femtech” and the growth opportunities from this new sector.
Reenita, great to have you with us as a guest on our blog! Could you please tell our members and readership a bit about your background and your projects so far.
I see myself as a healthcare futurist and strategist, passionate about changing the healthcare industry. I was recently voted as one of the top 100 women in Femtech and Healthtech. I have been fortunate to have lived and worked in over 10 countries in the world, focusing on healthcare issues and working with the public and private sectors to implement growth change strategies. I am currently serving as the Transformational Health Partner and Senior Vice President of Frost & Sullivan, headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. I became the first woman partner after 24 men in the firm. In addition, I am the founder of GLOW (Growth and Innovation of Women) program. I am also on the board of a non-profit, High Tech High Heels Silicon Valley, which focuses on increasing gender diversity for STEM.
Today, I work a great deal on building futuristic scenarios and forecasts to understand how healthcare will operate in 2030. I am also focused heavily on rethinking consumer business models as healthcare makes a transition to health and identifying opportunities with companies outside of healthcare to bring solutions to the healthcare sector. I started working in Femtech almost five years ago when this area was totally a nascent opportunity and have been speaking all over the world on the need for gender-specific products for women.
Women of Wearables is very pleased to partner with the 2nd World Congress on Women’s Health: Innovations and Inventions (WHII 2020): Addressing Unmet Needs on November 4 & 5, 2020, in Tel Aviv, Israel. This truly unique congress brings together physicians, other healthcare providers, technology experts, small and large companies, and investors to explore and discuss the latest innovations and inventions that are shaping women’s health. Can you tell us about why you decided to be a WHII chairwoman this year?
I had the opportunity to participate last year at this event; it was the first event that I truly believe focused on the hard issues that healthcare faces as far as women are concerned. I was very impressed with the quality of the speakers, the topics that were discussed and the interactive debates that took place. I think the industry needs a wide platform to bring together a variety of different stakeholders to find solutions to these problems—not just limited to the clinical community. Today, 80% to 90% of diseases are based on non-clinical factors such as social determinants of health—where you live, your access to technology, transportation, education, food, etc. I firmly believe that this event brings together many voices, right from the woman herself to other people in the ecosystem. As we envision the future, it is very important for us to address ways to predict, prevent, diagnose, treat and follow up using these next-generation technologies. This event exposes some of these technologies of the future that could change the way healthcare will be delivered and targeted to women.
Frost & Sullivan’s Femtech report from 2018 is one of the most widely cited sources on Femtech. Frost & Sullivan’s latest research, Growth Opportunities in the Global Femtech Market, Forecast to 2024, covers over 190 core and non-core femtech companies and their solutions. Can you tell us about your journey in initiating this report and give us a brief overview on how the market will look? What should we look out for in 2020?
Frost & Sullivan defines Femtech as technology solutions such as a device, diagnostic, product, software, app or services, or any combination thereof, that cater to the needs of women’s health.
The Femtech market will achieve $601.2 million in revenue in 2019 and reach $1.10 billion by 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 12.9%. The market, however, has the potential to cross $9 billion in 2024. Considering this potential, the overall market penetration is quite low at present.
The market is segmented based on the age of women consumers into pre-adolescence (not covered in the study), pre-menopause and menopause. Two other segments are general health & wellness and the area of cancers and other chronic conditions. (Pre-menopause segments cover menstrual care, pelvic health, fertility solutions, pregnancy care and postpartum care.)
Femtech is increasingly gaining traction among investors and even big technology giants (Apple). Femtech companies adopt varying pricing and branding strategies to build brand and solution awareness.
Femtech is still in a nascent stage with respect to its offerings in segments like menopause, autoimmune diseases and other health conditions prevalent in women. Telehealth and diagnostics are the major offerings in Femtech mainly due to increased mobile technology and reimbursement for telehealth or remote patient monitoring (RPM) in the United States.
Younger populations are more likely to adopt Femtech solutions, primarily because they are tech-savvy (targets for social media marketing) and also more likely to open up about female health issues with one another, allowing for better word-of-mouth publicity.
At least 50% of the core Femtech companies are managed or founded by women entrepreneurs as of 2019, either as a part of a solution to their own health problems or by understanding the gaps in healthcare. Funding across key Femtech segments through the venture capital route was at $1.69 billion in H1 2019.
We know you are very active and passionate about promoting the #WomeninTech movement. Why is this movement so important to you?
The number of women in STEM (science, technology engineering and maths) is reducing every year, and with a limited pipeline of women graduating from these programs, there is very little potential to get equal representation in technology firms. This is so visible in Silicon Valley. That is why we started High Tech High Heels, to help middle school girls in Silicon Valley find mentors and have the ability to explore these subjects without the pressure of boys in the classroom. There is a tremendous need to teach maths and science differently to boys versus girls as girls learn very differently from boys and hence that is what we are addressing—the root of the problem.
As one of the world’s leading Femtech experts, what is the most important piece of advice you can give to all founders and entrepreneurs in this industry?
Don’t take “no” for an answer.
Start networking early in your career (women do not network as men do, unfortunately).
Don’t be apologetic—women apologize 30 times more than men.
Don’t undersell yourself or your product.
Ask for what you want—don’t be shy.
We have seen your name on many inspirational women in Femtech lists. Who are your three inspirational women or businesses in Femtech?
Femtech is too small today, unfortunately, to have many women make their mark globally. However, the founder of Gennev, Jill Angelo, is someone who has been very inspirational to address a need for 1 billion women who enter menopause each year. Tia clinic is also another amazing business model to address women’s needs holistically.
Website: https://ww2.frost.com/
Check out our Top 100 Women in Fem Tech and Health Tech list, featuring Reenita Das and many more fem tech and health tech innovators!
This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder and CEO of Women of Wearables and Netta Levran, Women of Wearables Ambassador in Tel Aviv, Israel.