Pelvic floor rehabilitation is an important aspect of female health and wellness and should not be overlooked. It helps resolving issues such as incontinence, sexual discomfort, and other postnatal problems.
The most pressing concern with pelvic floor rehabilitation—or the women’s health niche—is that there hasn’t been enough technological development that address these problems.
However, Perifit, a femtech startup from Paris, France is breaking all the barriers and finding solutions to pelvic floor and vaginal health issues so that women can live their lives, a little less worried.
In the following interview, Cyril Haoudi, the Co-founder of Perifit takes us through the company’s journey so far, its most celebrated product, and his future vision for the company.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Please brief our audience about Perifit, its mission, and the key aspects of its stronghold within the women’s health solutions niche.
Just three years after the product launch, Perifit has already helped coach over 150,000 vaginas worldwide. The company was founded by Cyril Haoudi and Artem Rodionov in Paris, France in 2017 and has had great international success (+500% increase in sales during last year alone!). Since the end of 2020, Perifit’s team has more than tripled in size and gets closer to its goal of tripling its turnover this year.
Perifit’s mission is to not only help users successfully strengthen and heal their pelvic floor autonomously from the comfort of their own home but to also start a conversation surrounding vaginal health and pelvic floor disorders. More than 1 billion women suffer from pelvic floor disorders such as incontinence or prolapse and doing Kegel exercises can strengthen the pelvic floor to combat these issues.
The topic of vaginal and pelvic floor health is still considered taboo and therefore there’s a lack of information on the topic. It seems that people are not being educated properly on the pelvic floor, its function, or how to take care of it, and why this is important. Young girls may know what a Kegel is from a young age, but the information doesn’t extend much further than, “they make your vagina strong”. This lack of education and conversation leads to suffering from disorders and not knowing how to treat them.
No matter what stage of life, Perifit helps users bid adieu to the painful effects of incontinence, prolapse, and weakened pelvic function (while also increasing their sexual well-being and preventing future disorders!).
Tell us more about your product ‘Perifit’ that gives your company a distinctive edge to stand out from the competition?
Developed with the help of top pelvic floor experts, the Perifit solution consists of a connected probe and a smartphone app that users use to successfully strengthen and heal their pelvic floor autonomously and from the comfort of their home. Perifit is the only connected device that uses a unique patented double pressure-sensor biofeedback technology to identify faulty contractions so that each step of the training is efficient and safe.
The user’s training journey is adapted to one of our seven programs depending on their specific symptoms and needs and the app then tracks and monitors their progress. With a unique gamification approach, Perifit challenges the user to level up and stay motivated by offering 10 different games.
As a seasoned business leader what is your opinion on the effects of the pandemic on the healthcare sector, and what were the challenges that your company came across?
The pandemic increased the pace of digitalization, which was (and remains today) a huge growth factor for us. On the other hand, our factories and logistics were slowing down for 2 months, but this ended up being an easy challenge to come across.
With continuous development in technologies such as AI and ML, what is your prediction about the future of the women’s health solutions niche?
Still to this day many of the pains that women experienced remain underserved (endometriosis, vulvodynia, menopause…). AI and ML could help boost the way we diagnose and treat these issues, especially to reduce therapeutic wandering.
What would be your advice to the entrepreneurs and healthcare enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the women’s health solutions market?
Be passionate about women’s health! It is extremely rewarding to see the impact that your work has on others’ lives. This is the best because, your work truly becomes a pleasure.
How do you envision scaling your company’s operations and offerings in 2021?
We will keep recruiting and creating the most talented team in the world! And with the help from this team, we will continue to push the boundaries of how efficient, amazing, and fun Perifit can be.
About the leader
Cyril Haoudi is deeply feminist, married and the father of daughters. After graduating from one of the top French engineering schools, he worked in management consulting and the corporate world, but he found himself unsatisfied. Wanting to have an impact and make a difference through his work, he launched a startup: Perifit. He considers his main mission to be the improvement of the health and wellbeing of women worldwide.
