Ovom Care, a German digital-first fertility startup, has closed €4.8 million in seed funding. The round was led by Alpha Intelligence Capital and supported by Ananda Impact Ventures (which invested in Resourcify and Resistomap) and Merantix. To date, the company has raised a total of €6.1 million funding.
The funding will fuel the expansion of its services across Europe. The upcoming launch of Ovom Care’s first directly owned clinic in Portugal by the end of 2024 highlights the company’s commitment to scaling its unique model of care. It will also use the investment to accelerate enhancements to its AI platform, expand its service offerings, and support ongoing research to deepen the understanding of reproductive health.
How was the idea born?
The inspiration behind Ovom Care stems from its all-female founding team, comprising a reproductive clinician and researcher, an embryologist, and an infertility patient – Lynae Brayboy, Cristina Hickman, and Felicia von Reden. Their collective expertise in AI and reproductive health fuels the development of the hybrid care model, bridging the gap between digital innovation and empathetic fertility treatment.
AI-driven fertility care
Ovom Care combines reproductive care with advanced AI solutions, which will boost patient outcomes and bring greater fertility access to women at more affordable prices. The company uses historical and real-time patient data to train algorithms that function as medical decision support tools supporting clinicians and embryologists in making personalised decisions for the patient.
This enables improved outcomes and more dynamic pricing, even reimbursements if a pregnancy is not achieved. Removing the financial risk allows patients to have a better experience during an often emotionally and financially taxing journey toward parenthood.
“I believe we’re on the brink of a revolution in fertility care,” said Felicia von Reden, Co-founder and CEO. “I’m proud to spearhead this transformative journey together with my two co-founders Dr. Lynae Brayboy and Dr. Cristina Hickman. We are dedicated to defining a new era in reproductive care empowering every human that seeks to build a family to become a parent. Our mission is threefold: drastically improving treatment success rates, increasing accessibility, and driving patient centricity and convenience along the fertility journey.
Terry Chou, partner at Alpha Intelligence Capital, said, “Before investing in Ovom Care, we have spent the year comparing various AI-enabled fertility solutions and assessment tools. Ovom being a digital-first AI-enabled clinic, has provided a great platform for different AI-powered fertility solutions to bring together their value, a collective intelligence revolutionising the reproductive care space”
Mascha Bonk, Investment Manager at Ananda Impact Ventures, stated: “Globally, 17.5% of the adult population – roughly 1 in 6 – experience infertility. For many, in vitro fertilisation (IVF) represents a beacon of hope on their journey to becoming a parent but presents considerable financial and emotional challenges, with treatment costs ranging from €15-30k and success rates hovering around 35%. With their revolutionary approach, Ovom Care is making treatments more successful, accessible, and patient-friendly. We are proud to support Ovom Care in their journey to build a future where family becomes a possibility for everyone.”
“The integration of technology with hands-on care represents the next frontier in health,” said Adrian Locher, CEO of Merantix and General Partner of the Merantix AI Fund. “Ovom Care’s utilisation of outcome-based pricing will democratise access to fertility care and drive huge impact.”
