OLD SAYBROOK, Conn. and WARWICK, England. /PRNewswire/ — Fertility Focus, a leading fertility monitoring technology company that is helping empower women who are struggling to conceive, has secured $2.7 million in its Series A round, led by Foresight Group and Coutts Investment Club. This funding will serve to fuel further commercialization of the company’s product, OvuSense, in North America and Europe and fund additional clinical trials, with Foresight’s Rob Jones joining the board.
OvuSense has been used in over 50,000 cycles, and is the only fertility monitor capable of predicting ovulation up to 24 hours in advance and confirming the exact date of ovulation with 99% clinically-proven accuracy. OvuSense is unique in measuring core body temperature, which is the only true way to monitor rise and fall of progesterone during the cycle – this allows OvuSense to predict the onset of ovulation in real time using current cycle data. Demonstrating a commitment to expanding its support for all women struggling with infertility, Fertility Focus also signed an exclusive, worldwide license with Sensiia that allows the company to develop additional sensor solutions for women that are just beginning their journey.
“Around 75 percent of those who take six months or more to conceive suffer from one or more ovulatory issues – many of which go undiagnosed due to a lack of understanding and data around individual ovulation cycles,” said Christine Soden, CFO at Fertility Focus. “The fertility sector is expanding extremely rapidly as couples look for solutions. Following dramatic growth and significant positive feedback from our customers and partners in 2018, we expect to see increasing numbers of women interested in OvuSense and the unique information it provides.”
“Fertility Focus is helping address the need for additional understanding and information around the causes of infertility, and we’re proud to support their expansion with a focus on North America,” said Rob Jones, Investment Director at Foresight. “This is such a deeply personal issue for families across the globe – and many directly tie to the information only OvuSense can provide. The team’s passion to improve the fertility journey for women is inspiring.”
Hans Prottey, who heads up the Coutts Investment Club, said, “The Fertility Focus technology has huge potential and we were delighted to support them. The Coutts Investment Club looks to introduce innovative, high-growth private UK businesses like Fertility Focus to some of our most financially sophisticated and successful clients – who, in turn, bring their business expertise to the table as well as their financial backing.”
Since its commercial launch in the U.S. in 2013, Fertility Focus has been committed to helping women understand their ovulatory cycles in order to better inform why they may be experiencing infertility. The company’s main product, OvuSense, was developed with the help of specialist clinicians and is specifically designed for women who are concerned about their fertility or ability to conceive. Using an intravaginal monitor that measures core body temperature, OvuSense detects minute changes in temperature that mirror the rise and fall in progesterone during the cycle, helping women understand their cycle better, learn when they are ovulating, diagnose issues with the cycle, and track the effect of any medication they may need or already be taking.
While OvuSense is designed to help women who have irregular ovulation or cycle lengths, including women with diagnosed ovulatory issues such as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), there is a demonstrated need for women to have more information earlier in the fertility process. Applying Sensiia’s intellectual property to Fertility Focus’ clinically proven algorithms will offer a less invasive monitoring option for women who are early in their fertility journey.
“With the rich data provided by over 50,000 cycles, including women with a huge variety of cycle types, we can confidently say we’re arming women who struggle to conceive with more information about their fertility. As a result, we are helping many women get pregnant faster, either naturally or through gaining more rapid access to the diagnosis and treatment they need,” said Robert Milnes, CEO of Fertility Focus.
“The information OvuSense provides enables women to make informed decisions based on their unique ovulation cycle. While the OvuSense monitor and app support women further along in their infertility journey, we know there are many others who need support as they’re just beginning to look for information – the agreement with Sensiia will help provide a more complete solution for women struggling with infertility,” said Kate Davies, Fertility Nurse Consultant and IVF Coach RN BSc (HONS) FP Cert.
About Fertility Focus
With the ultimate goal of increasing pregnancy rates and helping women understand their infertility, Fertility Focus brings a new approach to the issue of infertility diagnosis and treatment. Through its core product, OvuSense™, the company predicts the onset of ovulation one day in advance, provides 99% accuracy for detection of the exact date of ovulation, and allows cycle monitoring to help diagnosis and tracking of medications – all in real time. No other method of cycle monitoring in the clinic or home offers these features. Fertility Focus has markets the FertiloScope™, a unique, minimally invasive instrument for the early diagnosis and immediate corrective surgery of the physical causes of female infertility. The company is continuously developing new technology to support women along all stages of their fertility journeys. Fueled by their own experiences with infertility, Fertility Focus and its leaders are committed to empowering women and improving the chance of successful conception.
About Foresight Group LLP (“Foresight”):
Foresight is a leading independent infrastructure and private equity investment manager which has been managing investment funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients for more than 30 years.
Foresight has some £2.8 billion of Assets Under Management across a number of funds, including Listed Vehicles, Limited Partnerships, Enterprise Investment Schemes (EISs), Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and Inheritance Tax Solutions using Business Property Relief (BPR).
Foresight’s Private Equity team, comprising 24 investment professionals, pursues four discrete but complementary investment styles: Venture, Impact, Growth and Replacement Capital through its growing regional office network.
Foresight was voted ‘Best VCT Investment Manager’ at the 2017 Growth Investor Awards, having been previously awarded ‘VCT House of the Year’ at the 2016 Unquote British Private Equity awards and was a shortlisted finalist for Venture and Growth Capital House of the Year at the 2018 Unquote British Private Equity Awards. Foresight VCT was recently named Best Generalist VCT at the 2018 Investment Week Tax Efficiency Awards.
Foresight is headquartered in London with regional UK offices in Manchester, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Leicester and Guernsey and international offices in Rome, Madrid, Seoul and Sydney.