Male fertility startup ExSeed Health has raised a £2.5M seed extension round led by Ascension with participation from Trifork, Hambro Perks and R42 Group. The investment will drive further European expansion. This round brings total seed-stage investment in ExSeed to more than £5M. and comes after the company has maintained average month-on-month sales growth rates of more than 20% in 2021 and quadrupled their sales since December 2020 thanks to equal growth in DTC and BTB. They also have an undisclosed partnership with a large fertility industry player.
British Standards Institute (BSI) approved ExSeed’s state-of-the-art, smartphone-based sperm testing kit last year, clinically validating it as an in vitro diagnostic medical device. Successful CE certification of ExSeed’s device highlighted huge steps being made in the at-home health tech sector, validating it for use across the European Economic Area and guaranteeing patients over 95% accuracy, bringing it in line with accuracy offered by traditional fertility clinics. The at-home test doesn’t require users to attend a doctor’s office, clinic, or hospital facility and it comes with a lifestyle intervention program that has shown highly promising health improvement rates according to the company.
Morten G. Ulsted, Co-founder and CEO of ExSeed explains: “This funding round is critically important for us and our mission to improve the treatment paradigm for male infertility and tackle the social stigma often attached. By allowing men to test, and potentially improve their fertility, in the comfort of their own home, ExSeed is helping to break taboos and raise awareness around male infertility. Moving forward, we see plenty of opportunities to work with relevant healthcare partners throughout Europe and beyond, like the NHS and private fertility clinics, with an ExSeed test being the first step on a patient’s wider fertility journey.”
Özgür Tuncer, Partner Ascension Life Fund, adds: “ExSeed has an exciting technology that addresses a real need in the fertility market and they have established strong partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies in the fertility space. They have a strong team and science which has been proven and we are really excited for them to be part of the Ascension Life Fund.”
Dominic Perks, Co-Founder and CEO at Hambro Perks, says: “Our investment in ExSeed demonstrates our ongoing confidence in the future of health tech. Male infertility is a growing problem that affects millions of men around the world, but remains largely taboo. We hope that ExSeed’s vision and mission to tackle this problem will improve the lives of millions of couples who struggle to conceive every year. We look forward to helping ExSeed continue to expand and working with the team to build this truly innovative health-tech platform.”
Declining fertility rates are amongst the most pressing health concerns for men across the world and according to the NHS, infertility affects 3.5 million people in the UK alone. In addition, sperm counts are almost half the level they were 40 years ago.
