Period-tracking app Flo is leveraging AI to help millions of women

By Lulu Chang August 12, 2017

flo raises 5 million rsz period tracker — Image used with permission by copyright holder

As an app that over 50 percent of the world’s population could make use of on a monthly basis, it’s no wonder that Flo has met with enormous success since its launch in 2015. The hugely popular period tracking app has just raised $5 million in a Series A funding round led by Flint Capital and brand ambassador, supermom, and supermodel Natalia Vodianova, and reinforces the need for female-focused technology in the 21st century.

Flo, which launched just under two years ago in October of 2015, has already secured 10 million monthly active users, and is only gaining in popularity. In fact, the app now sees its user base grow by 1 million users each month. This is largely thanks to a slew of new features, including personalized health insights.

The app relies upon neural networks to both analyze and anticipate menstrual cycles. “The use of machine learning increased predictions accuracy by 54.2 percent, with the prediction error reduced from 5.6 to 2.6 days,” Yuri Gurski, Flo founder and president told Venturebeat via email. “The more symptoms are logged, the more unique patterns the algorithm is likely to find in a woman’s cycle.”

Also included in the newest version of Flo is what Gurski describes as “Quora-style Q&A service.” Here, Gurski noted, “Users can discuss their most burning intimate issues with experts and other users, anonymously. We are seeing amazing results; it is truly a strong community of like-minded peers.”

While the app started out exclusively as a pregnancy app, Flo now has a pregnancy mode that promises a “tailored health solution for women at any stage of the reproductive cycle.” In fact, the company claims that it helps 100,000 women a month get pregnant.

So what will the app do with its new influx of cash? According to a news release, the goal is to use this sum to accelerate growth and expand Flo’s presence throughout the U.S. market. Furthermore, the company has ambitious plans to partner with research centers and universities with the goal of advancing female health science. Ultimately, Flo says, its goal is to “become the number 1 female health platform in the world, with at least 100 million users.”

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