Emerging women led femtech companies in Japan

Femtech is a newly coined term that refers to products, software and technologies that cater to women’s wellness and health. From fertility solutions and menstruation to maternal care and menopausal lifestyles, femtech offers assistance to women with various reproductive needs and circumstances. As of 2020, over 200 startups make up the global femtech market, of which 92% are founded and led by women.

In Japan, startups, in general, tend to be male-dominated. However, a group of female femtech leaders is disrupting the taboo around women’s health and helping women care for themselves better. We share two examples of notable female leaders who are taking up this mission.

Amina Sugimoto leads an up and coming femtech company

Amina Sugimoto is the CEO of Fermata, a leading femtech e-commerce platform. They facilitate access to technologies and solutions for wellness issues that many women would otherwise keep to themselves.

After spending her youth in Tanzania, the U.K. and Germany for schooling, Sugimoto returned to Japan for work. She soon found herself feeling uncomfortable in conservative Japanese society where women are expected to marry and have babies before it’s “too late.”

She then found a fertility test kit by US-based company Modern Fertility that measures your fertility hormones. Feeling liberated by this product that helps users make better decisions about their reproductive health, Sugimoto founded Fermata in 2019 to help other women with such issues. On Fermata’s website, users can explore a range of items from around the world based on categories. For example, menstruation, sexual wellness, fertility and pregnancy/postpartum-related items are available.

While women’s reproductive health has long been a taboo topic in Japan, Sugimoto believes that making femtech products available in society can help break the hesitancy. She also hopes that her business provides positive affirmation about taking care of one’s reproductive health. Fermata also operates in Singapore, aiming to improve the femtech market more broadly across Asia.

Rina Ishii creates her own feminist style

Rina Ishii is the founder of the period underwear brand Nagi. She was originally known for her unconventional media outlet “BLAST.” The media features topics such as female reproductive diseases, sexuality and LGBTQ+ issues from around the world paired with artistic photography.

Despite its wealth and technological advancement, Japan has been lagging globally in gender parity. Ishii was motivated to spread awareness about this fact and established the BLAST community to promote feminism. As she attracted like-minded audiences, she found herself inclined to offer more tangible support to women in areas where little or no attention was being paid. She eventually landed on creating period underwear to give more options for period products in Japan.

The brand name comes from the Japanese word “Nagi,” which refers to a state of calm. Ishii chose this as she wanted to help women have a calmer time even during their period. She decided to use subdued greens for the brand color, rather than going for overly feminine colors. It was a way to respond to complaints from many women that “cute” period-product packaging trivializes the pain that many suffer each month. She believes having control of your reproductive health means having control of your life, and she hopes Nagi can fulfill this role for women.