In the medtech industry, funding is fertile.
What’s happening? Women in the U.S. are waiting longer to give birth. (First-time mothers are an average of 26.3 years old.) A shortened egg expiration date means more women are turning to specialists in fertility for consultations and in-vitro fertilization and egg freezing, procedures costing tens of thousands of dollars, according to FertilityIQ — not broadly covered by insurance. Costs are supplemented by nonprofits or women look for alternatives, including hot market products like take-home medical tests.
Why should you care? Fertility is a $3B industry and as genetic testing and medtech continues to advance, women will look for answers to their future fertility options earlier in life, and women at risk of infertility (chemo patients for example) can preserve their eggs. With so many solutions out there, companies like yours can offer a wide range of innovative services for clients serious about starting a family.
Who’s leading? Female founders Afton Vechery and Carly Leahy developed Modern Fertility, a company that provides fertility test kits shipped door-to-door. All a woman has to do is prick her finger and wait for results telling them how many eggs they have and what they can expect when it comes to having kids. It’s a low-cost alternative to tests that can cost hundreds of dollars. The company secured $1M in seed funding to date.
Celmatix is a major business in the fertility field, founded by Piraye Yurttas Beim in 2009. It’s a big data firm that analyzes things like patient health, costs per live birth, and pregnancy rates of IVF programs to help patients and clinics predict successful treatment strategies. Beim also developed Fertilome, the first multi-gene infertility test. Celmatix has raised over $45M to date.
What can you do? Like any other life-changing decision, women and clinics in the business of fertility treatment, are looking for better data analysis and testing to guide their patients. If you are entering the medtech field, consider fertility.
