Women’s health is wealth

ONE in four residents in Singapore will be aged 65 and above by 2030, with women outliving men by about five years. Yet, longevity without good health comes at a cost.

Women spend a significantly greater proportion of their lives in poor health, in a global phenomenon described as a “gender and health paradox”. This is not only a social challenge, but also an economic one. Poorer health outcomes erode productivity, labour participation and long-term wealth creation.

Research shows that when inventors set out to solve a health problem, male inventors are more likely to solve a male-oriented condition; women-led teams solve for both.

Based on the 2026 UBS Women and Health Report, women’s health has historically been under-researched and under-funded, despite its direct impact on labour participation, productivity and long-term healthcare costs.

Conditions such as endometriosis, fertility challenges and menopause-related health issues affect millions of women across Asia, including Singapore, yet innovation in these areas has lagged behind their economic significance.

There is growing recognition of the economic and societal benefits of investing in women’s health.

Left unaddressed, health gaps translate into lower workforce participation, weaker productivity and rising long-term healthcare costs – a drag on both individual and national wealth.

According to a study by the World Economic Forum and McKinsey, closing this gender health gap could add more than US$3 billion to Singapore’s economy each year by 2040.

When capital overlooks health opportunities

Femtech, or female technology, refers to companies that provide a range of products or services focused on women’s health. Femtech is not a discretionary innovation; it is infrastructure that supports healthier working lives across longer lifespans.

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A large share of femtech companies today are founded or co-founded by women, who are building solutions based on lived experience rather than abstract demand. Digital diagnostics, telehealth platforms and data-driven solutions are improving access to care and enabling earlier intervention.

Across the Asia-Pacific, female tech entrepreneurship is no longer a fringe phenomenon. Women are founding companies at scale, particularly in technology sectors aligned with long-term growth.

Yet, despite this momentum, one constraint remains stubbornly in place: capital.

Female-founded companies continue to receive a disproportionately small share of venture capital, even in sectors with clear demand and large addressable markets. This reflects a structural mismatch between how capital is allocated and where long-term value is being created.

UBS research on the funding gap shows that women founders are more often questioned about downside risk than growth potential, and face barriers accessing networks that enable later-stage funding.

As a result, many companies struggle to scale not because of weak fundamentals, but because capital flows have yet to adapt.

From a market perspective, this is inefficient. Women-led companies have been shown to operate with greater capital discipline and generate stronger returns per dollar invested. In a more selective funding environment, these traits are increasingly relevant.

Nowhere is this disconnect more evident than in femtech, where investments have not kept pace. Many femtech ventures remain concentrated at seed and early-stage funding, with limited access to Series A and growth capital.

The global femtech market is projected to reach US$97 billion by 2030. The issue is not market size, but investor perception – a tendency to treat women’s health as a specialist category rather than a core investment opportunity.

Repricing health for long-term value

Closing the funding gap will not happen organically. It requires deliberate shifts in how opportunity and risk are assessed.

Gender lens investing provides one such framework. By evaluating companies based on how they address structural needs – such as women’s health – rather than relying on outdated founder archetypes, investors can identify opportunities that are currently underpriced.

This is not concessionary investing; it is disciplined capital allocation aligned with long-term demand.

Programmes such as the UBS Female Founder Award and Project Female Founder can address the recurring challenge for women entrepreneurs, providing access not just to capital but also to networks, mentorship and investor readiness that enable scale.

Singapore-based female technopreneurs have dominated the list of Asia-Pacific finalists for the global UBS Female Founder Award since its launch in 2021.

These initiatives underscore a broader point. Bridging the funding gap goes beyond writing cheques to building confidence among founders to scale their ambitions, and among investors to recognise opportunity without defaulting to bias.

With Asia’s population ageing and healthcare demands rising, femtech is emerging not as a niche but as a mainstream growth opportunity.

As the femtech hub of South-east Asia, hosting over half of the region’s femtech firms, Singapore is well-positioned to lead the sector’s growth in the Asia-Pacific.

This is due to its access to a broad spectrum of capital, from venture funds and institutional investors to family offices, which have grown rapidly in number and assets under management in recent years.

Many of these investors are increasingly focused on long-term, impact-aligned growth rather than short-term exits.

Singapore also has a strong biomedical and healthtech ecosystem, anchored by public research institutions, hospitals and regional headquarters of global healthcare companies.

Its regulatory clarity and data governance standards make it an attractive base for developing and testing healthcare innovation.

Crucially, Singapore serves as a gateway to the Asia-Pacific.

Femtech solutions built here can be scaled across markets facing similar demographic pressures – ageing populations, rising chronic disease and increasing health awareness – but with varying levels of healthcare infrastructure. That scalability is what makes the sector commercially compelling.

By mobilising capital, aligning policy and strengthening founder-investor connections, Singapore can position femtech as a core driver of competitiveness and long-term value creation.

As populations age and working lives lengthen, the link between health and wealth becomes impossible to ignore.

Far from being niche, femtech represents a commercially viable growth sector – one that strengthens workforce resilience, preserves productivity and supports sustainable wealth creation aligned with Singapore’s future health and economic needs.

The writer is co-head of global wealth management for Asia-Pacific and country head, UBS Singapore