Spotlight: Surrogacy
A couple of days ago Nodal, a company on a mission to reinvent the surrogacy experience, announced a $4.7M seed round. On Femtech Insider we often speak about ART (assisted reproductive technologies), yet haven't covered the surrogacy space in more detail so far. It's time to change that!
Generally speaking it can be difficult to understand the size of this space. Gestational surrogacy has been researched in multiple qualitative studies, yet quantitative aspects of the practice have been somewhat understudied. A 2016 study on trends and outcomes of gestational surrogacy, however, suggests that more than 2% of 2 million ART cycles performed during 1999-2013 in the U.S. used a gestational carrier.
Definitive numbers (also due too fertility tourism) may be hard to come by, one thing is for sure though: Gestational surrogacy is on the rise and recent investments in this space support both access and growth.
🤔 What is surrogacy?
If a woman is unable to carry a pregnancy to term, gestational surrogacy may be the best option. Also called a surrogate, a gestational carrier is a woman who carries and delivers a child for a couple or individual.
Surrogate mothers are impregnated through the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF). In this process, doctors create an embryo by fertilizing eggs from the intended mother or an egg donor with sperm from the intended father or a sperm donor. Because the gestational carrier doesn’t provide the egg, she is not genetically related to the child.
🤔 Who may benefit from gestational surrogacy?
A carrier may be recommended for the following patients:
- Couples not able to have children because of infertility
- Couples not able to safely give birth to a child because of health conditions
- Couples who have a history of recurrent pregnancy loss
- Same-sex male couples
- Transgender individuals or couples
- Prospective single males
🤔 What's the cost of surrogacy and how do intended parents fund the process?
Surrogacy is expensive. Experts estimate that surrogacy can easily cost $125,000 per child. There are several components that go into that price:
- Embryo creation
- Egg donation
- Agency fees
- Legal fees
- Surrogate base compensation & contingent fees
- Insurance costs
Given the hefty price tag of gestational surrogacy, intended parents often cover the costs through a combination of personal savings or assistance from family & friends, health insurance, workplace benefits, grants or loans.
🤔 Who is innovating in this space?
Besides many advancements in the IVF space, which are related, a few startups are focusing their efforts on transforming the surrogacy experience. 👇
Tulip (Seed - $1.7M)
Founded by the team that built Donor Concierge, the leading third-party fertility service, Tulip provides access to an array of donors and services through their immense network of fully-vetted agencies throughout the U.S. Tulip will soon offer access to surrogates and sperm donor options as well. In addition to extensive donor candidates, Tulip users gain access to medical clinics, expert legal advice, guidance, education and more.
Expecting (Seed - $1M)
Expecting is a startup with the mission to bring transparency and credibility to the fertility market with a curated database of egg donors, surrogates, fertility clinics and agencies. With their Potential Surrogate Database, they are able to digitally reach out to women who are willing to become surrogates, save them time and hassle by asking them to fill-in only one application form and connect them with numerous vetted fertility agencies.
Nodal (Seed - $4.7M)
Individuals and couples who sign up for Nodal pay a monthly membership fee to create a profile on the company’s platform for surrogates to browse. Each member of Nodal’s platform undergoes screening inclusive of background checks and live interviews, bypassing much of the guesswork and uncertainty that often accompanies an independent surrogacy matching process. Nodal prompts surrogates to make the first connection with intended parent profiles that feel right for them, while offering education and support for all parties on their journey. The platform uses proprietary technology to expertly connect intended parents with surrogates.
Kindbody acquired ARR (Series C - $122M)
Last August Kindbody, a leading fertility clinic network and family-building benefits provider for employers offering comprehensive virtual and in-person care, acquired Chicago-based Alternative Reproductive Resources (ARR), a leading gestational surrogacy agency. With this acquisition Kindbody brought gestational surrogacy in-house. The ARR team joined Kindbody as part of its expanded KindEOS division, the company’s in-house egg and embryo donor program serving Kindbody patients.
Wanna know which startups get us excited these days? Below are a few of our recent (femtech-healthtech-ish) discoveries. 👀
Startup Spotlight
Nessle is a new platform on a mission to revolutionize the way parents connect with perinatal experts in the U.S. New and expectant parents can search for virtual and in-person support from trained experts across the full spectrum of parenting challenges, from fertility through early childhood. As an open marketplace, Nessle invites approved experts to list their products and services–and thereby grow their clientele, diversify their offerings, and increase their schedule flexibility by supporting parents on their own time and turf.
Hello Heart is a digital therapeutic that focuses exclusively on heart health, and has just released a new study evaluating the program’s results for various user population groups in order to demonstrate its effectiveness related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The data suggests that Hello Heart’s digital coaching tools have the potential to contribute to health equity in hypertension outcomes, especially in women.
