Silicon Valley Bank Reports Increase in Women’s Health Investments

<p><strong><span class&equals;"legendSpanClass"><span class&equals;"xn-location">SAN FRANCISCO<&sol;span><&sol;span><&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi; Despite ongoing economic headwinds and a pressured venture fundraising environment&comma; investment in startup companies addressing women&&num;8217&semi;s health is on the rise&period; According to a recent report from Silicon Valley Bank &lpar;SVB&rpar;&comma; a division of First Citizens Bank&comma; investment in women&&num;8217&semi;s health companies increased 314&percnt; since 2018&comma; while overall investment for the health sector increased 28&percnt;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>SVB&&num;8217&semi;s <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;c212&period;net&sol;c&sol;link&sol;&quest;t&equals;0&amp&semi;l&equals;en&amp&semi;o&equals;4062112-1&amp&semi;h&equals;3560540378&amp&semi;u&equals;https&percnt;3A&percnt;2F&percnt;2Fwww&period;svb&period;com&percnt;2Ftrends-insights&percnt;2Freports&percnt;2Fwomens-health-report&percnt;2F&amp&semi;a&equals;Innovation&plus;in&plus;Women&percnt;27s&plus;Health&plus;Report" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"nofollow noopener">Innovation in Women&&num;8217&semi;s Health Report<&sol;a> examines fundraising and investment activity as well as capital and valuation trends across the sector&period; The report defines women&&num;8217&semi;s health as healthtech&comma; biopharma&comma; diagnostics&sol;tools&comma; and medical device companies that address underserved care needs for women&period; This includes conditions that uniquely impact women&comma; conditions that differently or disproportionately impact women&comma; and conditions that are marked by gender-based discrepancies in care&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Despite broader challenges in the larger venture capital landscape&comma; women&&num;8217&semi;s health is showing significant momentum and progress&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said <span class&equals;"xn-person">Raysa Bousleiman<&sol;span>&comma; co-author of the SVB Innovation in Women&&num;8217&semi;s Health report and VP of Venture Capital Relationship Management for Life Science and Healthcare at SVB&period; &&num;8220&semi;Investors and companies are challenging the misconception that women&&num;8217&semi;s health is restricted to reproductive years and realizing the tremendous opportunity to address the complete spectrum of health needs throughout a woman&&num;8217&semi;s life&period; Investments are increasingly shifting into emerging areas such as menopause&comma; pelvic health and mental health&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Along with other startups&comma; women&&num;8217&semi;s health companies saw valuations drop in 2023&period; Women&&num;8217&semi;s health companies are typically valued lower than healthcare companies overall&comma; with seed stage women&&num;8217&semi;s health companies consistently valued 20&percnt; lower than overall healthcare companies at the seed stage&comma; according to the data&period; One reason for the lower valuations could be lack of data collection on women&&num;8217&semi;s health conditions&comma; SVB reported&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The lack of data on women&&num;8217&semi;s health can be a roadblock for founders when convincing investors there is a need for their company&comma; for accurately estimating market size and for receiving FDA approval&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Bousleiman&period; &&num;8220&semi;However&comma; valuations could increase as investors are encouraged by efforts such as the White House Initiative on Women&&num;8217&semi;s Health Research&comma; which aims to close the research gaps in the sector&period; As clinical trials move forward and more data becomes available&comma; the clinical development of diagnostics&comma; devices and therapeutics to address women&&num;8217&semi;s health issues will progress&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><b><u>Key Report Findings&colon; Innovation and Investment in Women&&num;8217&semi;s Health<&sol;u><&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul >&NewLine;<li>With a <b>314&percnt; <&sol;b>increase in women&&num;8217&semi;s health venture capital investment since 2018&comma; 2023 will rank as a top funding year for the sector<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Investments in non-reproduction startups reached <b><span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;435 million<&sol;span><&sol;b> in Q3 2023&comma; indicating a shift in the long-held misconception that fertility and pregnancy are the sole focus of women&&num;8217&semi;s health<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Averaging <b><span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;182M<&sol;span> <&sol;b>investment per quarter&comma; biopharma surpassed healthtech as the top funded women&&num;8217&semi;s health subsector in 2023<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li><b>76&percnt; <&sol;b>of women&&num;8217&semi;s health companies have a female founder which is three times higher than companies across the overall innovation ecosystem<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p>Delivering relevant insights on the current and future state of the Healthcare market&comma; SVB will next release its 2024 Healthcare Exits and Investments report on <span class&equals;"xn-chron">January 17<&sol;span><sup>th<&sol;sup>&comma; 2024&period; This annual report analyzes trends for venture capital investing&comma; fundraising&comma; M&amp&semi;A activity and IPOs for biopharma&comma; medical device&comma; diagnostics and tools&comma; and healthtech sectors in the US and <span class&equals;"xn-location">Europe<&sol;span>&period; Early data indicates US investors raised <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;19B<&sol;span> for new health-focused VC and growth funds in 2023&comma; the third highest amount for any year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;