In-vitro fertilization-focused machine learning company Univfy has raised $6 million in Series A funding, according to a statement released today.
The funding round was led by venture firm Rethink Impact, and will be used to scale operations.
"We firmly believe that Univfy is poised to transform and dramatically expand the [in-vitro fertilization (IVF)] space,” Heidi Patel, partner at Rethink Impact, said in a statement. “We look forward to collaborating with [Univfy founder and CEO Dr. Mylene Yao] and her exceptional team to deliver this technology to more providers to help individuals and couples have a family while also alleviating the financial and emotional burden along the way.”
Following research at Stanford, Yao launched Univfy in 2009 to apply machine learning and AI for personalized IVF treatment success predictions. The technology aims to reduce the financial burden on those affected by infertility and, according to the company, has shown to increase IVF conversion and patient retention rates while better allowing those interested in larger families to afford multiple treatments.
"Anyone who has attempted to navigate the IVF process knows just how harrowing it is — physically, financially, and emotionally,” Yao said in a statement. “I collaborated with co-founder Dr. Wing Wong and his team to investigate how IVF success probabilities differed among patients. That research work led to the development of methods for building and validating a prediction model for IVF outcomes that can be applied to any IVF center to inform patients' decisions.”
The company said it will help expand the network of fertility specialists using Univfy’s predictive analytics platform within the US, and allow for additional expansions to its data science and product teams alongside client services personnel. Patel will also be joining Univfy’s Board of Directors.
"I am excited to partner with Rethink Impact, as Heidi and her team understand the critical impact of our work, and are passionate about helping people in their quest to become parents," Yao said. "This latest round of funding validates our mission and business model and will help us expand our reach to even more clinics across the United States.”
