Unicorn femtech Flo is on the hunt for startups to acquire, as it looks to expand into new health verticals and ramp up revenue in the wake of a record 2024 fundraise.
The London-based company is actively looking for M&A targets that could help it launch products in new areas, while speeding up growth in current business segments, which include period tracking, perimenopause and pregnancy support, CFO Tamara Orlova tells Sifted.
“We think M&A is the logical next step,” she says. “We’ve already started screening the market and understanding where we could speed up by adding new technology.”
Flo made headlines in August following a $200m raise from US investor General Atlantic, which was the biggest ever for a purely digital femtech and saw it become Europe’s first unicorn in the sector.
The startup’s platform allows users to track period cycles and monitor symptoms, as well as providing them with tailored health insights and educational content around pregnancy and perimenopause.
Founded in 2015, Flo was the most-downloaded health and fitness app on the Google Play and AppStore over the past month, according to market insights platform Sensor Tower.
Hunting for M&A targets
Flo has historically built new products and tech in-house, but its ongoing acquisition push signals a change in strategy.
“We’re looking for anything that could significantly improve user experience and add value into the segments we’re focused on,” says Orlova.
In the perimenopause segment — a key focus for Flo in 2025 — that could be startups providing digital tools or hybrid solutions which could help the company reach users in both digital and physical spaces, says Orlova.
“We recognise that strategic acquisitions and partnerships could further propel us into new segments of women’s health that address the unique needs of our user base.”
That acquisition strategy could play a big role in achieving Flo’s key focus for 2025: growth.
“Our main focus is to concentrate on delivering the next steps on the roadmap — to build the strategy that will make Flo become a holistic female health partner,” says Orlova. “We are already beyond just being a period tracker.”
Flo says it currently has 75m active users each month — with 50% based in the US, roughly a quarter of all American women aged 18-44.
But Flo’s rise to prominence hasn’t been without controversy.
The startup settled with US government agency the Federal Trade Commission in 2021, following allegations that Flo shared users' health information with third-party advertising companies without permission. It denies any wrongdoing.
While its US user base continues to grow, the startup tells Sifted there are no plans to relocate its HQ across the pond, with the majority of its 500 plus employees residing in Lithuania and the UK.
The remaining half of users are based in either the UK or the rest of Europe, with a growing number in Latin American countries like Brazil, Orlova tells Sifted.
Together those users made Flo $200m in 2024, she says — nearly double the $112m revenue the company brought in in 2023 — and it wants to grow that number by at least 25% this year. The startup made a $25m loss in 2023, its most recent year of financial reporting.
