#Reproductive Health
Bain Capital Ventures bets on fertility.
Gaia is a startup that is effectively out to “de-risk” the whole process of IVF fertility treatment, using products like personalized insurance and payment plans. It’s almost BNPL for babies — but not quite. It’s now closed a $20 million Series A funding round led by London’s Atomico. Previous investors were Kindred Capital, Seedcamp, and […]
Hannah Life Technologies, a startup for couples trying to conceive, announced today it has raised $5.15 million in pre-Series A funding led by Monk’s Hill Ventures. Other investors include Golden Gate Ventures, Anthro Ventures, and medical technology entrepreneur Dr. Jack Wang. The funding comes about 18 months after the company raised seed funding from Y […]
MFB Fertility, the creator of a suite of at-home pregnancy-related hormone tests, announced a $9.7 million Series A round this week. The round follows several milestones for the company, including an FDA premarket approval for a progesterone urine test and the rollout of a mobile app. It also gives the company more fodder to build […]
A number of promising women’s health tech companies have popped up in the last few years, from fertility apps to ovulation bracelets — even Apple has jumped into the subject with the addition of period tracking built into the latest edition of the watch. But there hasn’t been much in the way of innovation in […]
Legacy, a male fertility startup, has just raised a fresh, $3.5 million in funding from Bill Maris’s San Diego-based venture firm, Section 32, along with Y Combinator and Bain Capital Ventures, which led a $1.5 million seed round for the Boston startup last year. We talked earlier today with Legacy’s founder and CEO Khaled Kteily […]
Just last week, General Catalyst’s Peter Boyce explained how one of the most important things he looks for in a founder is a personal connection to the problem they’re solving. Kate Westervelt is one such founder. Westervelt founded Mombox, a curated kit of postnatal care products focused squarely on the mom rather than the child. […]
Today, it's been one week since I went to get my birth control renewed. It also marks 16 days until I get the half that broke off in my uterus removed. FML
About 180 million people globally suffer from infertility. In the United States, one in eight families have trouble conceiving. The statistics are only getting worse, as male infertility and miscarriages continue to increase. Alife Health, a San Francisco-based startup founded by Paxton Maeder-York, thinks it can help. The startup wants to use artificial intelligence to […]
Men's fertility solutions capture the attention of venture capitalists.
With every year, AI is beginning to bring more standardized levels of diagnostic accuracy in medicine. This is true of skin cancer detection, for example, and lung cancers. Now, a startup in Israel called Embryonics says its AI can improve the odds of successfully implanting a healthy embryo during in vitro fertilization. What the company […]
Today, my husband refuses to have sex with me until I get my tubes tied. We both agree that we don't want children, but this seems to be an exaggerated reaction since he learned that most birth controls are not 100% effective. FML
With every year, more scientists and academics are very specifically trying to lengthen the lifespan of humans and ensure that those extra years are worth living. Some of these teams are focused on detecting cancer earlier as a means of extending longevity; some are working to improve people’s metabolism. A small but growing group is […]
Fertility tracking has seen an explosion of startup activity in recent years. Femtech startup Lady Technologies is adding to this rich mix with the full U.S. launch of a dual-purpose device, called kegg, that’s designed to measure hormonal changes in a woman’s cervical fluid to help her determine the chance of conception on a given […]
Modern Fertility co-founder Afton Vechery is leaving healthcare unicorn Ro about a year after her company, built alongside co-founder Carly Leahy, was sold for north of $225 million. According to an internal e-mail from Ro’s executive team, obtained by TechCrunch, Vechery is leaving her role as president of women’s health of Modern Fertility to pursue […]
Today, I'm currently 9 months pregnant with my second child within 3 years. I was told by 4 different doctors over the course of the past 5 years that I'm incapable of having kids, due to a medical condition that affects my reproductive system. FML
Halle Tecco is no stranger to conception struggles. The Rock Health founder and former CEO has been public about her journey on social media, including two rounds of IVF, eventually leading to a healthy baby girl. Now, she wants to help others make babies, too. To get there, Tecco has joined a class of new […]
How birth control delivery startups can better support women in today's political climate.
Fertility tech startup Mojo is coming out of stealth to announce a €1.7 million (~$1.8M) seed round of funding led by Nordic seed fund Inventure. Also participating are Doberman and Privilege Ventures (an investor in Ava), plus a number of angel investors including Josefin Landgard (founder and ex-CEO of Kry) and Hampus Jakobsson (partner at […]
Future Family is a startup aiming to make fertility services like IVF and egg freezing more accessible. They work with doctors and clinics to make the pricing of these services more predictable and upfront, then offer monthly payment plans to help customers spread the cost (often in the tens of thousands of dollars) over a […]
UK-based Fertifa has bagged a £1 million (~$1.3M) seed to plug into a fertility-focused workplace benefits platform. Passion Capital is investing in the round, along with some unnamed strategic angel investors. The August 2019-founded startup sells bespoke reproductive health and fertility packages to UK employers to offer as workplace benefits to their staff — drawing […]
Today, I congratulated my best mate and his wife on their third pregnancy in three years. It then dawned on me that they've had sex more times in three years of marriage than I have had in six years of mine. FML
One in eight couples, single parents by choice and much of the LGBTQ+ population in the United States seek out fertility services.
Today, I've had a cold for over a week, and I've been coughing so hard, I bruised my ribs. I'm also 8 months pregnant. Guess where my son likes to kick me. FML
Today, I'm 23 weeks pregnant and super horny. I also cried during sex with my husband because I can't orgasm. FML
A fresh $15 million in funding led by Forerunner Ventures should help. Forerunner founder Kirsten Green, who takes a board seat as part of the round, is known for countless savvy bets on a wide number of consumer brands that have taken off with users, from Dollar Shave Club to Bonobos to Glossier. With Forerunner’s […]
Berlin-based femtech startup Inne is coming out of stealth to announce an €8 million (~$8.8M) Series A and give the first glimpse of a hormone-tracking subscription product for fertility-tracking and natural contraception that’s slated for launch in Q1 next year. The Series A is led by led by Blossom Capital, with early Inne backer Monkfish […]
Today, I realized how low my husband's libido has gotten over the years. He has zero intention of trying anything to fix it, no matter how hard I try. I don't even think I'm horny anymore as much as intimately touched starved. He ran his hand down my back in passing and I almost burst into tears. FML
When the topic of fertility comes up, we often hear hushed tones discussing someone else’s or their own journey through infertility.
Flo, a fertility focused period-tracking app, has closed a $50 million Series B funding round which it says values the company at $800M — underlining how much value investors are now attaching to women’s health tech. The 2016-founded startup raised a $1M seed in its first year and has gone on to raise a total […]
