Eli, a company enabling women to own their fertility and health decisions with a novel hormone tracking technology, today announced its $1.5 million USD seed round led by Vectr Ventures & 2048 Ventures. The round closed in December 2020 with the participation of Real Ventures, Techstars, Panache Ventures, Ramen Ventures, MEDTEQ+, and serial entrepreneur Steven Arless, who also joined the board. The round brings the company’s total funding since its creation in mid-2019 to $2.1 million USD. This amount includes a previous investment from Techstars and Real Ventures via Techstars Montréal AI.
Eli addresses the millions of women who demand hormone-free and non-invasive options to manage their fertility and better understand their bodies. The company is developing a device that uses saliva to capture hormone fluctuations at home, and an app that provides powerful information daily based on each user’s evolving hormonal profile. Eli will use the new capital for product development, clinical validations with independent medical centers, and first strategic sales. The company will also continue working with academic institutions to push women’s health research forward.
“Hormones are core to women’s fertility and general health, yet they remain a black box. We are unlocking that box and empowering women to have access to their own hormone data daily,” said Marina Pavlovic Rivas, CEO and co-founder of Eli. “We are removing the mystery. With Eli women will have data at their fingertips to be proactive about their health, to make informed decisions and avoid unnecessary medication or invasive devices.”
“The first step to delivering more personalized and integrated care for women is to fill the massive data gap in the space. Marina’s vision of using an at-home saliva test to give a woman a comprehensive view of her hormone profile is far more accessible and convenient than existing options,” said Louisa Zhang, Managing Director at Vectr Ventures. “More importantly, it puts together a unique longitudinal hormone dataset for women not just during their fertility years but throughout different life stages, from puberty, contraception to menopause.”
“We invested in Eli because of the founders’ vision to put health data, tied to hormones, into the hands of women. They envision a future where this data empowers women to conceive quicker, to have a more natural form of contraception, and to understand their body better as it goes through menopause. Eli’s technology is unlike anything we’ve seen on the market, and we are thrilled to be a part of their journey,” said Neha Khera, Partner at 2048 Ventures.
