A New Type of Breast Pump is to Conquer the German market

This article was originally published in Handelsblatt. Copyright Handelsblatt

This article is an English translation of the original German article

Women can already document their menstrual cycle in various apps and thus measure their fertile days. Tania Boler, founder of the UK start-up Elvie, also found that breastfeeding should be made easier by a digital application.

In 2018, she launched a portable and quiet breast pump in the UK and US. It can be controlled via an app, it measures the breastfeeding behaviour of the woman and evaluates it. Now Boler wants to get started in Germany with the digital breast pump.

It is a hand-sized, egg-shaped tube that breastfeeding women can clip into their bra or wear under their T-shirt. The device with the breast pump can be connected to the smartphone. So women can read their milk volume and the pumping process in one app.

For Boler, her Elvie breast pump is a long overdue product in the healthcare industry. "We have a solution to problems for many women that the technology sector has always ignored," says the founder. Traditionally, pumping milk for mothers would only be possible with a heavy, loud and wired device, making the experience painful and uncomfortable for many women. The pump from Elvie at least increases its flexibility in everyday life. "Some women go jogging with her or even marry with the breast pump," claims Boler.

The idea for her business model arose primarily from Boler's previous professional experience. Before founding Elvie in 2013, she completed her studies in Oxford and Stanford and became a doctor of reproductive health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

At various NGOs, she specialized in HIV prevention and access to safe abortions in different countries in Africa. Boler became team leader for HIV prevention policy at Unesco, where he developed the first global curriculum for sex education.

Her passion for dealing with taboo topics in health was shaped by stressful experiences in her youth: she observed drug abuse and mental illnesses in family members. This gave rise to their vision of rethinking health care: more personalised solutions were needed, including in women's health. "This includes menstruation, fertility problems and problems before, during and after pregnancy," says Boler.

Her first product development is a digital pelvic floor trainer that started in 2015. It is designed to help women strengthen their pelvic muscles after pregnancy. This is also connected to an app in which users can track their training progress. The start-up already has selective contracts with health insurers in Great Britain for the trainer. The digital breast pump has so far been a self-payer product: it costs 299 euros for one breast and 599 euros for both.

In the long term, Boler plans to have the breast pump in Germany reimbursed by health insurance companies: “We need a sustainable business model. Working with the health insurance companies would be an option.

”She already has bigger plans for the coming year: "We want to go public in the coming years." The fact that she is closing a supply gap for women with her digital application has also recently convinced financiers. It was only in April 2019 that Boler received $ 42 million in fresh capital for the further development of its electronic devices for women in a Series B financing - the largest amount invested so far in the femtech industry.

Investors weren't that generous before. "The fact that it was women's health and very intimate parts of the body and then hardware rather than just a simple app made it more difficult," says Boler. Many, especially male, investors therefore refused to meet directly, she reports.

But Boler's ambition paid off: she generated 25 million euros in sales with the Elvie products in 2019. With the fresh capital, the start-up plans to open up six other European markets in addition to Germany: Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Spain and Switzerland.

In addition to Octopus and Impact Ventures UK, investors include German investor Nicole Junkermann. She is convinced of Boler's business idea: "Companies like Elvie have helped women see themselves more as consumers of healthcare products and not take on the patient role."