A London-based women’s health app has become Britain’s latest tech unicorn, raising $200 million from an American investor in a deal that values it at more than $1 billion.

Flo Health, which was founded by its Belarus-born chief executive Dmitry Gurski and his brother Yuri in 2015, have sold a minority stake to the private equity firm General Atlantic.

The company, which employs around 500 people, helps almost 70 million women a month to manage their health, from menstruation to conception, pregnancy and menopause, with close to five million paying fees as subscribers, gaining access to 120 doctors and health experts. Another ten million are given free access, helping to make Flo the most downloaded women’s health app globally, according to figures cited by the company from SensorTower, a consultancy.

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Gurski, who moved to London in 2021 with his family, said Flo’s valuation of in excess of $1 billion was a “significant milestone” for the “entire femtech industry”. It had been valued at about $800 million at its last fundraising in 2021.

“When we started Flo, we identified a huge gap in women’s health services. Now, we’re a leader in a global movement to make women’s health a priority everywhere,” he said. “We’re committed to building a better future for female health, where every woman feels understood and supported, regardless of her location or economic status.”

Flo said it would use the new funds to hire more software engineers and increase its spending on research and development. It invested $37 million last year. It expects its revenues to exceed $200 million this year, up by 50 per cent. Last year, its main trading company, registered in the UK, generated revenues of $111.8 million, and a loss of $24.8 million. It made more than half of its money from women in the United States, the vast majority of whom use iPhones. Flo’s parent company is registered in Delaware.

After the 2022 Supreme Court ruling to overturn the right to access abortion services in the US, Flo has allowed women in the country to track their periods without that information being linked to them in any way. In 2021, the company settled claims with the Federal Trade Commission that it shared some users’ health information with third-party data analytics providers. The company said the agreement was “not an admission of any wrongdoing”.

General Atlantic also backs the retailers Gymshark and Shein and successfully exited the language app Duolingo.