In 2021, VCs invested $314 M into fertility startups to fuel a $47 B market. By comparison, VCs invested a whopping $4.6 B into NFT companies in 2021 (nearly 15x more funding) to fuel a comparatively tiny $15.7 B market!
Unlike NFT’s, there is no risk that fertility is just a fad. Fertility as a market sector is here to stay…forever.
Investors, do we have your attention?
Fertility is a BIG deal
An estimated one in eight couples struggle with fertility. Getting pregnant is a lot more difficult than it is portrayed in mass media. The umbrella term, fertility, covers many different areas, including:
- IVF (in-vitro fertilization),
- surrogacy,
- intrauterine insemination,
- egg freezing,
- sperm donation and analysis,
- services to help single mothers, couples, and people from the LGBTQ community procreate
- and more
The egg freezing and IVF process is far from perfect, it’s expensive and can have major side effects on a woman’s health.
Importantly, fertility is NOT just a “women’s health issue.” Up to 40% of infertility is a result of a male factor.
The History
Interest in fertility is not new and it’s not going anywhere. Since the 1700s, innovators have worked to help people conceive.
1700s: The first child conceived through artificial insemination is born.
1800s: The first child conceived via a sperm donor in the US is born.
1930s:
- The idea of in vitro fertilization (IVF) is proposed in the New England Journal of Medicine.
- Sperm is frozen successfully for the first time.
1950s: Four children are born using sperm that had been frozen.
1970s:
- A U.S. scientist successfully fertilizes an egg in vitro.
- The first ‘test-tube baby’ is born in England.
1980s:
- The first IVF baby is conceived in the U.S.
- The world’s first baby conceived from a donated egg is born in Australia.
1990s:
- A new male infertility treatment, Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), is introduced to inject one sperm into an egg.
- The first U.S. woman gives birth to a baby conceived from a frozen egg.
Today, 1 in 20 babies are born through IVF, and alternative solutions to infertility are on the rise.
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The fertility industry is booming
As women decide to have children later in life and couples seek autonomy over their family planning journeys, companies are innovating to match the need, with great success.
For example, Alife uses AI software to identify which treatment plans have produced the best outcomes for past IVF patients that are similar to a current patient in order to make a recommended IVF treatment plan. Alife has raised $31.5M since its launch in 2020 from major players like Maveron, Lux Capital and Union Square Ventures.
Companies like Oova, Inne and Eli Health are giving women information on their fertility cycles through at-home hormone tests, whereas Kegg gives women access to this data by tracking their cervical fluid.
Celebrities including Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Orlando Bloom and DJ Khaled have invested in Legacy, a male fertility company enabling its customers to test, improve, and freeze their sperm from home.
WeNatal has designed the first inclusive prenatal supplement for both women and men, further removing the stigma associated with fertility being a female-only issue.
Just as emerging startups are on the rise, so are unicorns and exits
Progyny, a fertility benefits and insurance company, went through an IPO at $1.3B in 2019. Since then, one of its competitors, Carrot Fertility, raised $75M in a Series C round to expand its global footprint.
Modern Fertility, a pioneering at-home fertility testing company, was recently acquired by telehealth giant Ro for an estimated $225M. Ro also acquired Dadi, a sperm collection and testing company, for $100M.
CooperCompanies, a global medical device company acquired Generate Life Sciences, a privately held provider of donor egg and sperm for fertility treatments, fertility cryopreservation services and newborn stem cell storage for $1.6B.
Kindbody, which offers virtual, at-home and in-person services for fertility and family-building, reached unicorn status earlier this year with a $1.15B valuation.
Finally, TMWR Life Sciences recently raised $105M to accelerate its global roll out of an automated platform for tracking, monitoring, and storing frozen eggs and embryos used for in vitro fertilization (IVF). GV and Peter Thiel participated in this round.
So where would you rather place your bets: a crowded, small market that puts digital monkey NFTs on your phone, or a massive and underserved market that helps parents build their families? It’s a no brainer – join us in investing in the fertility space!
