Flora Selected as One of 20 Startups for 'HVC KYOTO 2026,' One of the Largest International Pitches in the Healthcare Sector
Flora Inc., a femtech data and technology company, has been selected as one of 20 startups for 'HVC KYOTO 2026,' an international innovation platform in the healthcare sector organized by JETRO, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto City, and Kyoto Research Park Corporation. Flora aims to provide new approaches to challenges in women's medical care, such as HPV vaccines and low-dose birth control pills, leveraging its women's health data platform with over 300,000 users and a corporate community of over 150 companies.
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- 📰 Published: May 2, 2026 at 01:01
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Flora Inc. (Headquarters: Kyoto Prefecture, Representative Director & CEO: Anna Kreshenko, hereinafter "Flora"), a femtech data and technology company, has been selected as one of 20 startups for 'HVC KYOTO 2026,' an international innovation platform in the healthcare sector organized by the Japan External Trade Organization (hereinafter "JETRO"), Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto City, and Kyoto Research Park Corporation (hereinafter "KRP").
According to estimates by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the annual economic loss due to women's specific health issues amounts to approximately 3.4 trillion yen (※1). Among these, in the field of women's medical care, such as HPV vaccines and low-dose birth control pills, "reaching appropriate target patients" and "penetrating disease awareness" are common challenges for pharmaceutical companies. Flora aims to provide new approaches to these challenges through its digital health platform, which boasts a women's health data foundation with over 300,000 users and a corporate community of over 150 companies.
(※1) Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, "Estimates of Economic Loss Due to Women's Specific Health Issues and the Necessity of Health Management" (February 2024)
Flora's Strengths
HVC KYOTO is a platform that globally evaluates startups with innovative technologies in the healthcare sector. Flora's selection as a participating startup is attributed to the following unique strengths:
1. Longitudinal Women's Health Data Platform Linked to Attribute Information
Flora operates 'Moonly,' a period and menstrual cycle management app (over 300,000 downloads), and 'Wellflow,' an employee women's health support service (introduced by over 150 companies). It continuously accumulates longitudinal women's health data automatically linked to attribute information such as industry, company size, occupation, and age. Wellflow, introduced as a corporate welfare benefit, achieves a combination of attribute and health data that is difficult to obtain with general consumer apps, making it an extremely compatible data platform for market access design, hypothesis testing, and Real World Evidence (RWE) construction in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.
2. Expert Team Composed of Professionals from Various Industries and Over 30 Companies/50 Projects of Business Development Support
Through its women's healthcare business support service 'Expert,' Flora has supported over 30 companies and more than 50 new business development, R&D, and PoC projects. A team of experts in survey design, product development, data science, and medical fields provides end-to-end support from problem setting and hypothesis formulation to decision-making and commercialization, establishing a system to interpret insights in the delicate women's healthcare sector from multiple perspectives.
3. Global Expansion Capability Starting from India and Vietnam
Under a capital and business alliance with Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Flora is advancing its business expansion into India and ASEAN. Its positioning as a Japan-originated femtech player, aligned with HVC KYOTO's global orientation focusing on partnering with overseas pharmaceutical companies, overseas VCs, and accelerators, is considered one of the reasons for its selection.
4. Proven Track Record in B2B Healthcare
In a case study of Wellflow's implementation in a major manufacturing company, improvements were confirmed in indicators such as a 16.3% increase in sewing machine work productivity, a 17.8% increase in perceived support, and a 12.0% increase in ease of work. This accumulation of proven results in the B2B healthcare sector is believed to lead to reliability for collaborations with pharmaceutical companies.
Value Provided by the Expert Business to the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Sectors
Flora's 'Expert' service, based on the Moonly and Wellflow women's health longitudinal data platform, supports new business development, R&D, and PoC for companies and research institutions through a team of experts in survey design, product development, data science, and medical fields.
For challenges specific to the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, support can be structured into the following five phases as a single patient pathway:
Phase 1 - Awareness
Provides in-company training (in-person/webinar/e-learning) designed jointly with pharmaceutical companies, supporting reach to target patient groups that were traditionally difficult to access.
Phase 2 - Consideration
Women who have received training are guided to use the app, where self-checks and AI chat lower the barrier to consultation, designing a pathway for patients to voluntarily proceed to the next action.
Phase 3 - Action
Integrates a search and reservation pathway for certified clinics within the app, connecting online behavioral changes to offline gynecological visits.
Phase 4 - Treatment Continuation
Supports patient treatment continuation through recording medication/side effects, AI-powered consultation support, and visualization of treatment effectiveness.
Phase 5 - Real World Evidence (RWE)
According to estimates by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the annual economic loss due to women's specific health issues amounts to approximately 3.4 trillion yen (※1). Among these, in the field of women's medical care, such as HPV vaccines and low-dose birth control pills, "reaching appropriate target patients" and "penetrating disease awareness" are common challenges for pharmaceutical companies. Flora aims to provide new approaches to these challenges through its digital health platform, which boasts a women's health data foundation with over 300,000 users and a corporate community of over 150 companies.
(※1) Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, "Estimates of Economic Loss Due to Women's Specific Health Issues and the Necessity of Health Management" (February 2024)
Flora's Strengths
HVC KYOTO is a platform that globally evaluates startups with innovative technologies in the healthcare sector. Flora's selection as a participating startup is attributed to the following unique strengths:
1. Longitudinal Women's Health Data Platform Linked to Attribute Information
Flora operates 'Moonly,' a period and menstrual cycle management app (over 300,000 downloads), and 'Wellflow,' an employee women's health support service (introduced by over 150 companies). It continuously accumulates longitudinal women's health data automatically linked to attribute information such as industry, company size, occupation, and age. Wellflow, introduced as a corporate welfare benefit, achieves a combination of attribute and health data that is difficult to obtain with general consumer apps, making it an extremely compatible data platform for market access design, hypothesis testing, and Real World Evidence (RWE) construction in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.
2. Expert Team Composed of Professionals from Various Industries and Over 30 Companies/50 Projects of Business Development Support
Through its women's healthcare business support service 'Expert,' Flora has supported over 30 companies and more than 50 new business development, R&D, and PoC projects. A team of experts in survey design, product development, data science, and medical fields provides end-to-end support from problem setting and hypothesis formulation to decision-making and commercialization, establishing a system to interpret insights in the delicate women's healthcare sector from multiple perspectives.
3. Global Expansion Capability Starting from India and Vietnam
Under a capital and business alliance with Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Flora is advancing its business expansion into India and ASEAN. Its positioning as a Japan-originated femtech player, aligned with HVC KYOTO's global orientation focusing on partnering with overseas pharmaceutical companies, overseas VCs, and accelerators, is considered one of the reasons for its selection.
4. Proven Track Record in B2B Healthcare
In a case study of Wellflow's implementation in a major manufacturing company, improvements were confirmed in indicators such as a 16.3% increase in sewing machine work productivity, a 17.8% increase in perceived support, and a 12.0% increase in ease of work. This accumulation of proven results in the B2B healthcare sector is believed to lead to reliability for collaborations with pharmaceutical companies.
Value Provided by the Expert Business to the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Sectors
Flora's 'Expert' service, based on the Moonly and Wellflow women's health longitudinal data platform, supports new business development, R&D, and PoC for companies and research institutions through a team of experts in survey design, product development, data science, and medical fields.
For challenges specific to the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, support can be structured into the following five phases as a single patient pathway:
Phase 1 - Awareness
Provides in-company training (in-person/webinar/e-learning) designed jointly with pharmaceutical companies, supporting reach to target patient groups that were traditionally difficult to access.
Phase 2 - Consideration
Women who have received training are guided to use the app, where self-checks and AI chat lower the barrier to consultation, designing a pathway for patients to voluntarily proceed to the next action.
Phase 3 - Action
Integrates a search and reservation pathway for certified clinics within the app, connecting online behavioral changes to offline gynecological visits.
Phase 4 - Treatment Continuation
Supports patient treatment continuation through recording medication/side effects, AI-powered consultation support, and visualization of treatment effectiveness.
Phase 5 - Real World Evidence (RWE)