Ava Women

Ava Women is a Zurich, Switzerland-based digital health company that develops a wearable fertility-tracking bracelet and companion application to continuously monitor physiological parameters during sleep. The direct-to-consumer hardware utilizes artificial intelligence algorithms to measure metrics like skin temperature and resting pulse rate, predicting fertile windows and tracking menstrual cycles for its users. Prior to its acquisition, the enterprise raised $45.3 million in total venture funding, operated with six employees, and reported that its FDA-cleared device had successfully helped over 70,000 women conceive. Ava Women received early financial backing from venture capital firms including btov Partners and Swisscom Ventures before being acquired by the health and beauty sciences startup FemTec Health in July 2022. The wearable technology company was originally founded in 2014 by Lea von Bidder, Pascal Koenig, Philipp Tholen, and Peter Stein.

High-Level Overview

Ava Women (Ava AG) is a FemTech company that develops an AI-powered wearable bracelet and app to track women's reproductive health, providing data-driven insights for fertility, conception, contraception, and beyond.[1][2][4] It serves women seeking to understand their cycles, plan pregnancies, or manage reproductive health across life stages, solving problems like inaccurate fertility prediction through clinically validated sensors measuring physiological signals such as skin temperature, heart rate variability, pulse rate, breathing, sleep, and movement.[1][4][6] With over 3.5 million user cycles analyzed, FDA-cleared technology, and more than 70,000 pregnancies facilitated, Ava has shown strong growth, culminating in its acquisition by FemTec Health in 2022 to integrate into a holistic women's health platform.[1][5][8]

Origin Story

Ava was founded in August 2014 in Zurich, Switzerland, by Lea von Bidder, Pascal Koenig, Philipp Tholen, and Peter Stein, driven by a mission to advance women's reproductive health using AI and clinical research.[1][5] Lea von Bidder, who later became CEO in December 2019, brought a personal motivation tied to improving fertility tracking accuracy beyond traditional methods.[1][3] Early traction came quickly: in August 2015, Swiss investors like Zürcher Kantonalbank and Swisscom provided $2.6 million; the first "Ava baby" was born in the US by July 2017; and by February 2019, it had supported 20,000 pregnancies.[1] Pivotal moments included FDA clearance in December 2020, peer-reviewed publications, and patents, expanding from fertility tracking to broader reproductive support amid partnerships like Aristo Pharma and Carrot Fertility.[1]

Core Differentiators

• AI and Clinical Validation: Algorithms process data from 3.5+ million cycles and clinical trials (published in journals like JMIR), detecting fertile windows via five physiological signals with real-time accuracy for diverse cycles, including irregular or PCOS.[1][4]
• Wearable Hardware Excellence: Bracelet worn at night collects data 25 times per second on skin temperature, HRV, pulse, breathing, sleep, and perfusion; FDA-cleared as the first such fertility tracker.[1][4][6]
• Holistic, Research-Backed Approach: Positions as scientific (not lifestyle) brand empowering women non-judgmentally across conception, contraception, pregnancy, and menopause; anonymized data fuels ongoing ML improvements.[2][3][4]
• Proven Impact and Ecosystem: Over 70,000 pregnancies, awards (e.g., Swiss Startup Award 2017, Women's Health Femtech 2018), and post-acquisition integration into FemTec's platform for continuous care from puberty to menopause.[1][5]

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Ava rides the FemTech wave, addressing a $50B+ women's health market gap where fragmented tools ignore full reproductive lifecycles, fueled by AI advancements, wearable tech, and demand for personalized, data-secure health insights.[2][3][5] Timing aligns with post-2020 regulatory wins (FDA clearance) and investor interest in holistic platforms amid rising VC for gender-specific healthtech.[1][5] Market forces like employer benefits (e.g., Carrot partnership) and privacy focus favor Ava, influencing the ecosystem by contributing peer-reviewed data to reproductive science and enabling platforms like FemTec's "Awesome Woman" for integrated vaginal, hormonal, and reproductive care.[1][4][5]

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Post-2022 acquisition by FemTec Health, Ava's tech now powers expanded services in a unified platform, positioning it for scaled growth in AI-driven women's health amid trends like menopause tech and continuous monitoring.[5][8] Expect deeper integrations with FemTec's acquisitions (e.g., Birchbox, Mira Beauty), leveraging 70,000+ pregnancies' data for contraception launches and personalized therapeutics, while regulatory tailwinds and big data refine algorithms for broader demographics.[3][5] Its influence could evolve from niche fertility leader to core engine in age-agnostic women's platforms, driving progress "one cycle at a time" as FemTech matures.[3]