All Posts
Last updated on January 14, 2025
Dmitry Gurski, Co-Founder & CEO of Flo Health, reveals how he went from writing books to building Europe’s first femtech unicorn.
The global femtech market is expected to more than double in size to $125b by 2032, revolutionising women’s health. Within this space, Dmitry Gurski’s Flo Health, Europe’s first femtech unicorn, is pioneering new standards in personalised digital health solutions for women.
Historically slow advances in women’s health mean women face a health gap equating to an average of 75 million years of life lost due to poor health or early death each year – a statistic that Flo is working to change. Closing the women’s health gap will increase quality of life and lifespan for women and has the potential to boost the global economy by $1t annually by 2040.
Founded in 2015, Flo Health raised more than $200m in Series C investment from General Atlantic at a $1b+ valuation in July 2024. The period and pregnancy tracking platform is transforming the way more than 70 million women manage their well-being on a monthly basis, from family planning to detecting health issues.
Creating Flo: The ‘Super-App’ for Women’s Health
Dmitry was raised in Belarus by a single mother who worked as a librarian. “She instilled in us a strong work ethic from an early age out of sheer necessity”, Dmitry reflects on his childhood. “This necessity to work hard from the beginning really shaped who we are today.”
His entrepreneurial journey started far from the technology world — he wrote several books between the ages of 18 and 22. Then, into his thirties Dmitry worked in publishing, including founding his own publishing house.
“I was responsible for approximately 2500 titles of educational books. Despite the challenges, my perfectionism drove me forward!”
The transition from publishing to femtech came from recognising a significant market void. Dmitry saw the need for something that went beyond simple period-tracking apps; “something that covered a broader spectrum of female health concerns”, he explains.
Femtech: A (Wo)Man’s World?
With this idea, Dmitry and his brother and co-founder, Yuri, built the beginnings of Flo Health. They started informing their approach by listening to countless stories from women around the world.
“From the start, we didn’t have personal experience to draw from, so we relied on testing and in-depth studies. We’ve always based our decisions on objective information, data, user research, and testing.”
The fact that Flo Health is a male-founded femtech has not gone unnoticed. While there are many examples of inspiring women tech founders, on average femtechs founded by women in the UK, US, and Canada have raised 23% less capital per deal since 2010 compared with similar, exclusively male-founded companies.
To encourage more women founders and ensure that more investor money goes to women-led startups, Dmitry says there need to be more opportunities for women to take on leadership roles.
“VCs also need to prioritise diversity and examine their implicit biases when it comes to investing in female founders”, he says.
Closing the Women’s Health Gap
Although women make up more than half of the population, businesses focused on their wellbeing have long been viewed as a niche. Women control 80% of healthcare spending decisions in the US. However, femtech received just 2.5% of US-based healthcare funding in the first half of 2024.
For Dmitry, the economic and social incentives for innovating in the femtech sector are clear.
“I’m really excited about how femtech solutions can speed up the diagnosis of women’s health conditions like PCOS, endometriosis, and uterine fibroids. Unfortunately these conditions often face long diagnostic delays, with endometriosis averaging around 6-7 years globally.”
“At this point, Flo is not just my product – it’s the result of the entire company’s collective effort. My role is less about dictating product details and more about building the company that creates the product.”
What’s Next for Femtech and Flo Health?
What’s Dmitry’s advice for budding femtech founders?
“Build a resilient mindset, focus on your strengths, seek funding early and build a strong support network”, he says.
Following its unicorn status, Flo is expanding operations. They gifted over 20m subscriptions last year, the Flo for Partners members grew by 7x, and they have just announced 130 new roles.
As for Flo’s contribution to advancing women’s health research, Dmitry says Flo is actively partnering with top universities and institutions by providing aggregated and de-identified data from their users to conduct research. Just in 2024, the team published five groundbreaking papers and launched their first clinical trials, analysing data from over 19 million women.
“This is just one example of how femtech can help close this glaring health gap.”
Subscribe to Founders News to get more startup stories like this one direct to your inbox.
