Don’t wait for permission to own something - Malin Frithiofsson, Daya Ventures

Malin Frithiofsson is the CEO of Daya Ventures, the world’s first FemTech venture studio, with hubs in Sweden and Kenya. They are building the next generation of high-growth FemTech startups to tackle the $1T+ gender health gap. On October 31st, Daya opened a community round and reached their  €250,000 goal in just six hours, entirely from women in their own network. They have expanded the round to allow more women and allies to join. 

Daya Ventures was born when Malin realised that what we call the “gender health gap” is more than just a gap - in her words, it’s a “canyon”.

“Across everything from diagnosis times to medical research and drug safety, women are systematically underrepresented. We call it “data bias,” but really, it’s design bias.

Healthcare has been built around a default male body and male experience. At Daya, we decided to build a model that closes that gap - not just through research or advocacy, but by creating ventures that design for women, with women, and owned by women.”

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The way the studio operates is that they start with the problem, and not the founder, Malin explains:

“Every Daya company begins with months of clinical and stakeholder validation: patients, researchers, clinicians - before we ever write a line of code or design a logo. 

Once we’ve proven there’s a real gap, we recruit a founding team and co-build with them for 6–12 months. 

Daya holds a small minority stake, and the women who lead the company own the majority. 98% of our portfolio is women-owned -  that’s not a coincidence, it’s by design.“

Daya has built and launched multiple ventures across Europe and East Africa, and the most important lesson they have learned has to do with the power of experience-based design.

“Solutions have to work not just theoretically, but in practice: in clinics, in homes, in systems that are already stretched. We’ve learned to design from the lived experiences of women and the professional insight of clinicians. When those two perspectives meet, you get products that actually work in the real world.”

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The two hubs, in Europe and Africa, teach the team at Daya things that are different but complementary:

“Sweden gives us proximity to world-class research and public healthcare systems - but it also shows how innovation can get stuck in bureaucracy. 

Kenya, on the other hand, moves fast, tests ideas in real life, and exposes whether something actually works for the women it’s meant to serve. When you combine those contexts, you get both rigor and relevance, science that’s grounded in reality.”

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To measure the impact of their solutions and product, Malin explains that they use “the FemTech Impact Scorecard: a framework we developed to measure both positive outcomes and potential harm across six pillars: health, access, empowerment, innovation, sustainability, and scalability. 

It helps us distinguish between genuine innovation and “femwashing.” Impact isn’t just about good intentions, it’s about measurable change. The scorecard ensures that every company we build improves women’s lives, while also holding us accountable for the social, environmental, and economic ripple effects of what we create.”

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Even now, the biggest misconception investors still have about FemTech as a business opportunity is that it’s niche, she says.

“As if 51% of the population’s biology and lived experience were a market segment. 

The irony is that women are power users in digital health: we make most healthcare decisions, spend more on health, and are usually early adopters of new solutions. FemTech isn’t a small market, it’s a strong one. But investors still underestimate it because the people designing and funding health innovation rarely represent the people using it.”

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There are important pressing blind spots still being ignored in women’s health:

“Maternal mental health, environmental exposure, and workplace health -  the invisible stuff that doesn’t fit neatly into “medical specialties.” 

We call this contextual FemTech: innovations that address the environments, systems, and everyday realities shaping women’s health long before they reach a clinic. Until we start treating stress, unpaid labor, and toxic load as part of healthcare, we’re only fixing half the problem.”

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In August 2025, Malin also founded One of the Girls Has Money Now, an initiative that helps women learn and start investing. To see more female investors, she says that we need to “make investing feel relatable and Malin is also the Founder of One of the Girls Has Money Now, a private investing club and learning platform helping women invest in startups., not just lucrative. 

Women don’t need another lecture about compound interest, they need spaces that connect money to agency. One of the Girls Has Money Now exists to do exactly that: demystify startup investing and show that even small checks can build collective power. The goal isn’t just more female investors, it’s more female owners.”

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Looking at the future, Malin hopes that in five years from now:

“Hundreds of women will own pieces of the companies solving their own health challenges -  that’s success. I want Daya to be known not just for what we built, but how we built it. 

And I want One of the Girls Has Money Now to have created a generation of unapologetically wealthy women who invest with both heart and strategy. Ownership is the through-line,  that’s the revolution.”

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Lastly, to female founders or investors who might read this interview, Malin says:

“Don’t wait for permission to own something. The system wasn’t built with us in mind, so we’re not here to “fit in” -  we’re here to rewrite it. 

Whether you’re building or backing, your stake in the future matters. Because ownership isn’t charity. It’s power.”

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Thank you, Malin Frtihiofsson!