Physicist-turned-CEO Elina Berglund Scherwitzl built the first FDA-cleared non-hormonal birth control app, redefining women’s health tech.
Track your cycle with confidence — Natural Cycles pairs with wearables or a thermometer to deliver personalized, hormone-free birth control insights. Natural Cycles is an FDA-cleared, non-hormonal birth control app that uses body temperature data—often from wearables—to identify fertile and non-fertile days.
When Dr. Elina Berglund Scherwitzl helped discover the Higgs boson at CERN in 2012—a breakthrough that later won the Nobel Prize in Physics—she thought she’d reached the pinnacle of her career. But with the Large Hadron Collider, the particle accelerator she used, closing for upgrades, she began to wonder what was next. The answer came from a personal need: a safe, effective, non-hormonal birth control option. After years on a hormonal implant, she wanted a break before trying for children. The pill had caused side effects, and other methods didn’t fit her lifestyle. Research revealed that body temperature changes throughout the menstrual cycle. That sparked an idea. Scherwitzl began tracking her data and developing an algorithm to predict fertility, with her physicist husband, Dr. Raoul Scherwitzl, helping refine it. “We realized this was a huge unmet need,” she points out. In 2013, they launched Natural Cycles, thewas worth about $31 billion and is on track to hit $44 billion by 2030. Trends are reshaping this growth: the FDA’s 2023 green light for Opill, the first birth control pill available over the counter; a more affordable and convenient It’s within this context that Natural Cycles has carved out a niche—at the intersection of non-hormonal birth control and digital contraception. The company has raised $100 million. “Elina, Raoul, and the team have built a science-led, consumer-first platform that’s helping reshape how women manage fertility and long-term health,” explains Carolina Brochado, Head of EQT Ventures & Head of Growth US. “Natural Cycles pioneered a new category in women’s health, a space we believe has been historically overlooked and underfunded, combining a proprietary algorithm with intuitive tech. At EQT Ventures, we back bold, generation-defining companies, and we’re proud to be part of their journey.”Dr. Elina Berglund Scherwitzl, Co-founder and CEO at Natural CyclesNatural Cycles works on the principle that body temperature rises after ovulation due to an increase in progesterone. By monitoring small changes over time, the app’s algorithm flags “green days,” when the risk of pregnancy is low, and “red days,” when a user is likely fertile or there isn’t enough data—signals to use condoms or avoid sex. In 2018, the app became the first non-hormonal birth control app to receive FDA clearance, classifying it as a medical device. Today, it’s available in over 60 countries, with more than four million registered users. In the U.S., users can also pair the app with wearables like the Oura Ring or Apple Watch for automatic temperature tracking. “Our effectiveness is 93% with typical use and 98% with perfect use,” Scherwitzl notes. “That’s similar to the pill and more effective than condoms.” But less effective than an IUD or implant. The company has been profitable for several years, thanks to a subscription business model. “We’ve always said: this is a medical device. The user is our customer. We don’t run ads From Contraception To Pregnancy And Perimenopause Support Natural Cycles started as a tool for birth control but has steadily expanded its scope. Users can now switch to modes for pregnancy planning, pregnancy tracking, and postpartum recovery. In October, the company will launch a perimenopause mode to help women navigate hormonal shifts later in life. “We’ve expanded beyond birth control to support women through every reproductive stage,” Scherwitzl says. The decision reflects both market demand and the company’s data advantage: years of anonymized temperature and cycle data from millions of users worldwide. This evolution also aligns with broader contraceptive market trends. Hormone-free methods are gaining traction, wearable tech is becoming mainstream, and reproductive healthcare is moving online. “Wearable integration is a game changer,” Scherwitzl adds. “It removes the friction of daily measurement and makes the method more convenient.” ŌURA, one of Natural Cycles’ most important partners, sees this integration as essential. “At Oura, we believe in the power of partnerships to extend the value of our product and provide members with better tools to understand their health,” describes Dorothy Kilroy, Chief Commercial Officer at ŌURA. “Natural Cycles is one of the most innovative companies in the women’s health space with a similar mission to empower women with science-backed, personalized insights, and together, we're redefining how technology can support women throughout their journey.”Breaking ground in a brand-new category came with plenty of hurdles. Regulatory pathways for digital contraception didn’t exist when Natural Cycles launched, so the team had to help define them. “It wasn’t clear how a device like ours should be treated,” Scherwitzl points out. The company’s strength lay in its science: 26 published clinical studies, robust datasets, and the ability to analyze subsets of users when regulators had questions quickly. Another challenge has been differentiating Natural Cycles from simple period trackers, which many people mistakenly use for contraception. “We are often compared to period trackers, even though we’ve gone through rigorous clinical validation and regulatory clearance,” she says. Perhaps the most delicate obstacle has been media coverage of unintended pregnancies, which happen with every contraceptive method. “In the beginning, we put our heads in the sand,” she admits. “That was not the right strategy. Now, we fight for the facts. Every time we see misinformation, we follow up with journalists to ensure what’s written is factually correct.”and Google limits targeting and tracking for women’s health-related products, reducing the efficiency of paid marketing. “Unfortunately, this makes it harder for companies like ours to drive business and, by extension, innovation,” Scherwitzl says. On the policy front, there’s a significant opportunity. Under the Affordable Care Act, U.S. insurers must cover at least one form of each FDA-approved contraceptive method. That includes Natural Cycles—but the reimbursement process is clunky. “Right now, users can get reimbursed, but they have to pay up front,” she reports. “We’re working to make the insurance flow smoother, so ideally the user doesn’t have to pay first.”Jumping from particle physics to women’s health might seem like an unlikely career move, but Scherwitzl sees the link. Both, she says, require the same rigorous, methodical approach to tackling challenging problems. “At CERN, we were trying to understand the universe. With Natural Cycles, we’re trying to understand and support the female body. Both require precision, data, and persistence,” she describes. Her work reflects a bigger change underway. As birth control options expand, non-hormonal birth control and other medical-grade digital tools are becoming trusted choices—standing alongside the pill, IUDs, and implants as real alternatives. By blending personal need with scientific expertise, Scherwitzl has helped create a new category in a market with explosive growth. For her, the mission is far from over. “There’s still so much room to innovate in women’s health,” she says. “We’ve only just begun.”
Digital Birth Control App Fertility Tracking App Natural Cycles
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