Womens Health Investment Outlook 2026

Concentration in familiar areas Private-sector funding in women’s health remains concentrated in reproductive health, women’s cancers and maternal care, which together represent roughly 80% of identified funding events and 90% of identified capital between 2020 and 2025. This concentration reflects investor familiarity with established therapeutic and delivery models and the presence of proven demand – but it also underscores where unmet need and emerging opportunity remain across under-represented conditions. The data on funding patterns also reveals clear intersections between therapeutic focus and industry modality (see Appendix B). Women’s cancers are primarily anchored in biopharmaceuticals (biopharma) and therapeutics, led largely by major oncology portfolios, with fewer than 25% of identified companies being women’s health-specific. In contrast, reproductive and maternal health attract a broader mix of investment across care delivery and health services, diagnostics, digital health and platforms, consumer health and wellness, and medical technology (medtech) and devices. These segments show a higher concentration of women’s health-specific companies (68% and 61%, respectively). This reflects both their established demand base and their alignment with consumer- and technology- driven innovation. Persistent underfunding of women-specific conditions There is a clear misalignment between private- sector funding flows and disease burden. High- prevalence, women-specific conditions – such as endometriosis, menopause, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and menstrual health – represent less than 2% of identified women’s health funding: approximately $1.7 billion for endometriosis, approximately $1 billion for menopause, approximately $0.1 billion for PCOS and around $0.1 billion for menstrual health. These conditions affect tens of millions of women worldwide but continue to attract only a fraction of total private- sector investment. For investors, this underscores a missed opportunity – the chance to expand beyond familiar categories and deploy capital into underfunded but high-growth areas with substantial unmet need and long-term market potential. Private investment into women’s health by funding stage, ordered by burden FIGURE 5 Note: 1. “Other“ funding types comprise post-IPO equity , corporate r ound, debt financing and convertible note Each chord represents funding event volume (number of events) Therapeutic areas ordered by burden Infectious diseases (10) CVD (7) Mental health (135) Metabolic disorders (2) Neurological disorders (4) Women’s cancers (464) Urological disorders (9) Mater nal health (400) Repr oductive health (580) Endocrine disorders (6) Menstrual health (6) Menopausal health (2) Endometriosis (69) PCOS (36) Generic women’s health (139) Funding stage Pre-seed/seed (618) Early (324) Later (497) Other 1 (430) Source: Pitchbook, CapIQ, Crunchbase, IHME data (2023) Women’s Health Investment Outlook 14