Legacy, a male fertility startup offering sperm freezing and analytics, has raised $3.5 million in a new funding round, CEO Khaled Kteily confirmed to MobiHealthNews. The funding was headlined by a “major” investment from Section 32, with Y Combinator and prior backer Bain Capital Ventures also lending their support.
WHAT THEY DO
Born out of the Harvard Innovation Labs alumni incubator program, Legacy’s business provides consumers with a discrete, mail-order kit capable of preserving a semen sample for up to 48 hours. Once customers return their kit to one of the company’s locations, lab technicians conduct an analysis of the sample and, within 24 hours, upload a digital fertility report detailing the volume, count, concentration, motility and morphology of the customer’s sperm alongside personalized lifestyle advice.
Based on the package they’ve selected, customers then have the option to have their samples frozen by a partner cryogenic storage center. Here the startup emphasizes its security protocols, which range from physical surveillance and asset diversification practices to HIPAA- and GDPR-compliant data privacy protocols.
“Most men don't know that men [and] women are equally responsible for infertility, nor that sperm quality has plummeted 50% [to] 60% in the last 40 years. Even doctors don't make it a priority — some IVF clinics don't test sperm quality until [two to three] cycles in, meaning tens of thousands of dollars in potentially unnecessary costs,” Kteily told MobiHealthNews in an email. “By providing a simple, affordable, at-home solution for men, we're making it easy for every man and couple to get tested early in the process, and to preserve their fertility anytime they're ready.”
Kteily also stressed the recent launch of a B2B version of the company’s offering for employers.
“We believe that every employer offering female fertility benefits should be offering male fertility benefits — to double their employee coverage at a fraction of the price, offer an LGBTQ+-friendly benefit and ideally save costs down the line,” he said.
The new $3.5 million follows a $1.5 million seed round, led by Bain Capital Ventures and announced last June.
WHAT IT’S FOR
Kteily teased a handful of new products and services soon to be announced by the fertility startup. These include a “sperm score” rating developed by the company’s Harvard-based researchers, which he said will be showcased within “the coming weeks.”
MARKET SNAPSHOT
Legacy’s consumer-friendly approach to male fertility isn’t too far off from that of Dadi, which raised $5 million in August to expand its customer services capabilities. Similarly, Sandstone Diagnostics provides D2C kits that previously found their way into NIH-funded study conducted by Boston University and Stanford University.
However, a much larger segment of the reproductive health market is focused on women’s fertility. These products range from cycle tracking apps, testing kits and devices and new features built into popular consumer wearables.
