In recent years, some women who have focused on careers and late marriage ages have been pushed to consider maintaining fertility through egg freezing.
However, the sudden cost of the procedure, estimated at $10,000 to $15,000 per trial, means that many women cannot afford it in their 20s to early 30s in their most fertile years.
CoFertility, a startup founded by former Uber executive Lauren Makler and Health Tech Angel Investor Halle Tecco, offers women's non-cost egg freezes in exchange for donating half of their recovered eggs to those who cannot conceive.
Three years ago, the startup raised a $7.25 million Series A round led by its next venture and offline venture, with participation from initialization, Gaingel and several other investors. This funding round brings Cofertility's total funding to $16 million.
The idea of cooperation stems from McLa's fear of fertility and health. The 2018 diagnosis of a rare abdominal disease led to multiple surgeries that threatened her ovarian loss.
In such circumstances, doctors may suggest freezing eggs for young women who want to have children, but that was not an option for McLaur.
So she began to learn as much as she could about donating eggs.
McLaur knew the donor would be compensated for the eggs, but was shocked to learn how expensive the eggs are. If she wanted the eggs from a Jewish donor to fit her background, it would cost more. The price rose even further when she sought eggs from an educated woman.
“It felt like surge pricing for egg donors. It felt troubling to me,” she said.
Luckily, McLaur ended up conceiving her child naturally, but the experience made her want to build a business that matches young women who want to maintain fertility with people who need donor eggs.
While the concept of egg sharing is not new, Makler claims that Makler is the only company that offers large eggs through a “splitting” program.
“At any time, there are hundreds of donors available to the intended parent,” McLaur said. He added that most clinics have only a handful of donors, so it's unlikely to lead to games.
Makler says Cofertility's egg donors come from a diverse background, with about 55% having graduate degrees.
The intended parent covers egg collection costs and cooperation adjustment fees, as well as standard egg donations. However, there is no need to compensate the donor, and the out-of-pocket costs will be reduced.
Makler doesn't want to call Cofertility a market, but she agrees that it works like one and her company is solving a big structural problem.
“The big vision and goal is to remove the taboo of egg donation,” she said.