Future Family, a San Francisco-based startup focused on making fertility more accessible, has raised a $10 million Series A round led by Aspect Ventures. BBG Ventures, LaunchCapital, iNovia, RiverPark Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Day One Ventures and Portfolia also participated.
The company will use the money to bring its subscription model to more clients. It will also start to work with more fertility clinics across the country.
“Today what we see is very, very few people in the U.S. have access to fertility services,” Future Family founder and CEO Claire Tomkins said in a phone interview.
Traditionally, fertility care can be confusing and involve rigid plans and high upfront costs. But Tomkins’ startup aims to change that.
Future Family offers subscription-based plans — sort of like services offered through Netflix. The company has plans for IVF, egg freezing and on-demand medical support. For instance, one IVF plan option costs $250 per month and includes concierge care, personal fertility planning, clinic matching and use of Future Family’s digital health platform, which lets people connect to their certified nurse concierge. Patients can also customize their plan to cover the costs of elective services like genetic testing. There are no upfront costs in the startup’s model.
After patients select their choice of services and the package that works best for them, Future Family pairs them with a doctor and a clinic. Alternatively, patients can use their own doctor and clinic. They’re then able to start treatment right away.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“Future Family is where you start your journey,” Tomkins noted.
The company’s origin story is a personal one from Tomkins. While working as an executive in the clean energy industry, she was going through IVF treatments. To conceive her daughter, she went through six rounds of IVF, which cost more than $100,000.
The experience, she said, was both incredibly expensive and incredibly isolating. The idea behind the company was to provide access and support to women and couples going through fertility.
In addition to the Series A financing news, Future Family announced Aspect Ventures partner Lauren Kolodny will join its board of directors.
“We’re excited to have more female leadership at the board level,” Tomkins said.
Photo: PeopleImages, Getty Images
