Empowering Women Through Healthcare: How Kindred CEO Jessica de Mesa-Lim Built the PH’s First Femtech Company

With her “femtech” startup Kindred, Jessica de Mesa-Lim has created a safe space for women that promotes their health and empowers their lives.

When Jessica de Mesa-Lim began her startup Kindred, she set out to solve an often-overlooked problem that has always been obvious to women: women’s healthcare. By  championing women’s health, she pioneered the country’s first “femtech” company–a tech business that focuses on providing holistic healthcare for women. Through Kindred’s app, women can track their health, consult doctors online, pursue their wellness goals, or book consultations at Kindred’s clinics for a host of female-centric services such as breast exams, ultrasound, and prenatal screenings.

The pain point that Kindred addresses is called the women’s health gap. According to a report by the McKinsey Health Institute in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, women spend more of their lives–an average of nine years of their life–in poor health compared to men. When women are sick, their illnesses often go undiagnosed. When women know they are sick, they are often untreated. And at hospitals and clinics, they are often underserved, with reproductive health concerns being stigmatized and their mental health problems being dismissed.