“Flo Health is the most popular FemTech Healthcare start-up in the USA and over 100 countries worldwide. It has more than 100M users and was recognised by SensorTower as the most downloaded health and fitness app in the App Store in August 2024.”
A period tracker or fertility app can simplify charting periods, tracking ovulation, or monitoring pregnancy.
These apps help women track symptoms, predict their cycles, and show their cycle history and sexual activity, among other features.
In this article, we will take a closer look at Flo Health, which, as of writing, is the world’s most popular Femtech start-up.
Fitness apps are software applications installed on your mobile device to support your workout routine and other lifestyle habits. These apps can assist you in establishing fitness objectives, monitoring your advancement towards those objectives, experimenting with new exercise routines, accessing professional fitness guidance, connecting with a supportive community, staying motivated, and more. Additionally, some fitness apps are compatible with wearable fitness devices, allowing seamless synchronisation.
What Is Flo Health?
Flo Health, founded in 2015 and based in Redwood City, California, is an AI-driven Femtech company focused on women’s health.
They developed a mobile app for iOS and Android users that covers topics such as menstruation, cycle tracking, conception, pregnancy, early motherhood, and menopause.
The app’s period tracker lets users log symptoms and activities, which the app’s AI uses to make predictions.
Flo Health also provides educational content such as articles, surveys, and quizzes. Users can discuss health issues privately through a health assistant and secret chat.
For pregnancy, Flo Health offers tools like a due date calculator, an ultrasound due date calculator, and calculators for IVF and Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) due dates.
Who Is Behind Flo Health?
Dmitry Gurski and Yuri Gurski, Belarusian Co-Founders of Flo Health, developed a global app to help women understand their body signals. The app provides accurate cycle predictions, evidence-based health insights, self-assessment tools to identify increased risks of certain medical conditions, and a community section for anonymous health discussions.
The Gurski brothers’ journey to creating Flo Health began in 2015, driven by the need for better women’s health tracking solutions. Both self-taught in tech and healthcare, Dmitry and his brother faced significant challenges.
They had to learn extensively about women’s health and overcome scepticism from investors who doubted their tech-driven approach.
Despite these hurdles, their dedication paid off, and they developed Flo Health into a leading app.
Today, Flo Health is a world leading Femtech start-up and is valued at $1b+ and helps millions of women with accurate cycle predictions and health insights.
Flo Health’s Vision
“Flo Health is argued to be the first “purely digital” women’s health app to become a unicorn.”
Flo is dedicated to creating a better future for female health by empowering women to take control of their well-being and supporting women throughout their entire reproductive lives with personalised cycle predictions, virtual health assistants, and insights on general health, fertility, and pregnancy.
Recognising that not all women have equal access to health information, Flo collaborates with a large team of medical doctors and female health organisations to provide unconditional, expert, evidence-based advice that is widely available.
While many health topics remain taboo, Flo aims to foster open discussions, end stigmas, and build a supportive community through a comprehensive library of accessible information.
Understanding the importance of privacy in the digital age, Flo ensures the platform is secure, allowing women worldwide to share personal information confidently.
Flo Health App
Founded in London in 2016, Flo has become the most popular women’s health app. It boasts 380 million downloads and 68 million monthly active users- Healthline,2024
Flo helps women track their health beyond just their periods. The app supports women throughout their reproductive lives, including monitoring menstruation, predicting cycles, and preparing for conception, pregnancy, early motherhood, and menopause.
Flo also offers personalised monthly health insights and essential self-care tips to help prevent future illnesses.
With over 100 medical experts, women can get expert advice or connect with a professional through messages whenever they need a consultation.
Flo also has a private community where women can share questions and concerns and discuss openly.
Flo Health believes that understanding and being aware of their body’s signals can significantly improve women’s well-being.
By tracking symptoms throughout their menstrual cycle, women can identify patterns they may not have noticed before, potentially uncovering underlying health issues. This process can also promote self-acceptance and contribute to a positive body image.
Overall, using Flo is simple: You enter the data you’re willing to share by logging your period start date on its calendar, adding any applicable symptoms, sexual and physical activity, mood, diet, information about your discharge, pregnancy tests, and ovulation test results, and more if you’d like.
The calendar shows your cycle information whenever you open it, and you can also receive cycle reminders if you want them.
Flo Features
Flo is free to download. You can choose to either keep the free version or upgrade to its premium subscription, which offers more resources and features.
Flo Free
The free version of the Flo app offers essential tools for tracking periods and ovulation, monitoring symptoms, and recording cycle history. Users can also use an anonymous mode for privacy.
Additionally, Flo provides a desktop Health Library with information on pregnancy, general Health, LGBTQ+ sexual and reproductive health, and more.
One standout feature is Flo’s “secret” community chat centre, an anonymous forum where users can ask questions and share experiences.
It provides a safe space for menstruating individuals to discuss their concerns without feeling ashamed.
Diverse educational resources are also available on Flo, including articles, quick tips, FAQs, discussion forums, playlists, and music.
The range of content ranges from casual to scientific, with insights from medical experts and sex therapists enhancing the app’s community feel.
Flo Premium
Unlocking access to the premium version of the Flo app provides users with all the features available in the free version, plus a wealth of additional benefits.
One notable feature is Flo’s virtual health assistant.
This chatbot, described by the company as an “interactive dialogue tool,” offers extensive cycle reports and information on signs of disorders such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis.
According to Flo, the feedback provided by the virtual health assistant is based on the latest medical evidence and verified by at least two medical specialists.
Premium users also gain access to more detailed pregnancy tracking, advanced symptom tracking and predictions, daily health insight stories, video courses, and more.
How Does Flo Handle Privacy
“We did not share your name, address, or birthday with anyone at any time- Flo stated“
In 2021, Flo Health Settled Trade Commission (FTC) briefly disclosed on its website. The statement revealed that between June 30, 2016, and February 23, 2019, Flo shared an identifying number related to its users, along with information about their periods and pregnancies, with companies assisting Flo in measuring and analysing app trends, usage, and activities.
These companies included the analytics divisions of Facebook, Flurry, Fabric, and Google.
Flo clarified that no information was shared with the social media divisions of these companies.
The statement emphasised, “We did not share your name, address, or birthday with anyone at any time.”
Flo emphasised that the agreement with the FTC was not an admission of wrongdoing.
The company highlighted its strict policies and procedures to safeguard user data.
For example, Flo partnered with Cloudflare to protect user data through its Anonymous Mode accounts.
Flo also lists its ISO certifications, privacy policies, and technologies on its website to further reassure users of its commitment to data security.
Milestones Achieved By Flo Health
- 2015: Flo Health was founded to provide women with a reliable and user-friendly app to track menstrual cycles and ovulation.
- 2016: Flo launched its period and ovulation tracking app, quickly gaining traction among users for its accuracy and ease of use.
- 2017: The app reached 10 million users, reflecting its growing popularity and trust among women worldwide.
- 2019: Introduced AI-driven health insights, enhancing the app’s ability to provide personalised and accurate health predictions and advice.
- 2020: Flo hit 100 million downloads and became GDPR compliant, ensuring users’ data privacy and security, which bolstered user confidence.
- 2021: Launched new features to support users with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) and menstrual disorders, expanding its utility and relevance.
- 2022: It became the most downloaded health app in over 30 countries, cementing its global presence and influence in women’s health.
- 2024: Raised $200 million in Series C funding, achieving a $1 billion valuation. The app now supports 70 million monthly active users and has nearly 5 million paid subscribers, making it the first fully digital consumer women’s (Femtech) health app to reach unicorn status.
The Future Of Femtech
With the advancements in AI technology and personalised healthcare and the gradual dismantling of myths (and taboos) surrounding female health, we’re seeing an unprecedented increase in the number of innovative solutions in the world of female health.
More start-ups globally are beginning to take up the challenge of solving the myriad of problems in the world of feminine health with technology, from addressing issues with feminine illnesses to helping women manage symptoms of menopause and guiding women on how to understand their bodies.
Flo Health has just told the world that it’s possible for women’s health-related start-ups to rule the world.
We’re definitely going to see more Femtech start-ups, especially in Africa, begin to use technology to solve most of the pressing female health issues on the continent, from pulling down longstanding walls of cultural taboos that have prevented the spread of solutions addressing female health to influencing governments to invest more in female health.
Areas within women’s health, such as maternal, menstrual, and menopause care, present significant opportunities for innovators and entrepreneurs to explore and address the various challenges associated with women’s health.
Conclusion
Flo Health provides a free period-tracking app to monitor women’s cycles and is more widely trusted for its accuracy in managing reproductive health.
The premium version, which offers additional features and resources, is priced at around $40 per year or $11.49 monthly (with occasional discounts).
Flo Health is committed to women’s health and ongoing research to enhance its services.
While the app requests personal information, understanding its data practices can offer reassurance.
For those preferring privacy, a physical period-tracking journal is also a great option; however, modern cloud safety technologies are advanced enough to safeguard private information, and in addition, the analytics and AI services one gets from using advanced health apps like Flohealth can’t be gotten from just using a journal or keeping a casual calendar.
References
About us. (n.d.). Flo.health – #1 Mobile Product For Women’s Health. https://flo.health/about-flo
Glasner, J., & Glasner, J. (2024, July 30). FLO Health lands $200M as women’s health funding holds strong. Crunchbase News. https://news.crunchbase.com/health-wellness-biotech/womens-health-funding-flo-reaches-unicorn-status
Mona, B. (2024, July 31). FLO Period Tracker: What to know about the popular app. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/flo-period-tracker#1
News-Medical. (2023, May 19). Flo; Much more than a period tracker. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20220322/Flo3b-Much-more-than-a-period-tracker.aspx
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