Finance and Banking, News, Tech

Revolutionary femtech firm partners with HSBC UK to support domestic and international growth

  • Award-winning female-led tech firm, Elvie, plans to launch in new markets and develop further innovations to support women’s health using ground-breaking technology
  • Elvie becomes one of the first companies to receive bespoke support from HSBC UK’s £250m Growth Lending proposition, designed to nurture UK’s most promising scale-ups

A ground-breaking London-based femtech business Elvie, founded and led by women to create innovative technology-based solutions to women’s health needs, has bolstered its relationship with HSBC UK to support its significant international growth plans.

Under the partnership Elvie will utilise an eight-figure funding package to: continue its rapid growth trajectory in its existing product categories, support new product development using smarter technology to solve female health challenges in new areas, and continue to expand into new markets internationally.

Founded by Tania Boler in 2013, Elvie’s market leading products – which include a pelvic floor trainer and wearable, hands-free, near-silent breast pump – use bio-feedback and connected mobile technology to create superior solutions to women’s health needs. The company has been lauded for making a real difference to the lives of millions of women around the world, with two of its products being named as TIME Magazine’s 100 Best Inventions (Elvie Pump and Elvie Stride – both electric breast pumps).

The company, which is a market leader in both the UK and US, is one of the first beneficiaries of HSBC UK’s new £250m Growth Lending proposition. The dedicated proposition is designed to support the UK’s most promising high-growth tech scale-ups. Widely recognised as the fastest growth area in the economy, UK scale-ups contribute 33% of GDP*.

This HSBC UK Growth Lending package is made up of revolving credit facilities, invoice financing and trade loans. The HSBC partnership has been formed in addition to the equity investments from Elvie’s long term and long-standing investors.

Sarah Highfield, Chief Executive Officer at Elvie, said: “Elvie has already revolutionized every category it has entered – but we know that we have barely scratched the surface of what is possible for women’s tech.  Brokering this long-term strategic partnership will allow us to develop more innovative products, and ultimately reach more women across the world. We know there is so much more we can do, and will be working closely with our partner HSBC UK – and our existing long-standing equity investors – to deliver on these growth plans.”

James Messer, Global Relationship Director at HSBC UK, commented: “Elvie is a fantastic example of a next generation business that has designed and created innovative and exciting new products which are making a huge difference to the lives of women.  From the very beginning of our relationship, Elvie has demonstrated its exceptional ability to create solutions and operate on an international scale. We’re excited to be supporting Elvie through its next phase of growth, utilising our new dedicated HSBC UK Growth Lending proposition.”

James Cundy, Managing Director, Head of Mid-Market Corporate Banking & Structured Finance, UK, commented: “Elvie is a shining example of why we created the Growth Lending proposition – not only is it a highly successful, high growth, ambitious and promising business but it is managed by an exceptionally talented team. It makes me proud that HSBC UK is partnering with such an inspirational – and aspirational – company that is doing genuinely exciting and revolutionary work for women on a global scale.”

Elvie has almost 200 employees globally and was listed as #75 in the FT 1000 list of Fastest Growing Companies in Europe 2022. Four Elvie products have won the prestigious Red Dot design awards, including Elvie Pump taking the ‘Best of the Best’ accolade in the year it launched, and Elvie’s Founder Tania Boler was awarded ‘GLAMOUR’s Women of the Year Technology Gamechanger’ for her taboo-breaking work.

HSBC UK’s Growth Lending proposition is a £250m pool of assets to support high-growth, loss-making tech scale-ups that are supported by strong equity backing, have a proven sales track record, and a clear path to profitability.

This deal was supported by Anna O’Brien (HSBC UK, Growth Lending) and Prasan Parekh (GTRF). (HSBC UK, Global Trade and Receivables Finance). Intellectual property (IP) identification and valuation experts, Inngot was appointed to support the deal.

* According to the ONS