Modern Fertility

Modern Fertility is a San Francisco-based women's health company that makes fertility hormone panels—previously available mainly through fertility clinics—accessible to consumers at home or at a nearby lab. A customer completes an online quiz, a request is reviewed and ordered by a board-certified physician, and the panel is customized based on the customer's birth control. Samples are collected via finger prick at home and mailed in, or drawn at a Quest Diagnostics location, and are processed in a CLIA-certified laboratory. Results always include AMH (described by the company as the most reliable marker for ovarian reserve) and TSH, and are interpreted against clinical thresholds set by fertility physicians.

Customers receive a personalized report explaining what their hormone levels mean for ovarian reserve, egg freezing and IVF, and menopause timing, plus downloadable levels to share with their own doctor. The company retests flagged hormones at no additional cost. Support services include one-on-one consultations with fertility nurses, weekly live webinars branded "Egginar," and an online "Modern Community" available through a free app. In the year before its 2021 acquisition, the product line expanded beyond the hormone test to a quantitative ovulation test, an early-detection pregnancy test, a cycle-tracking app and other digital fertility tracking tools.

The company stated that it also invests in its own cultural and clinical research aimed at identifying unmet needs among women and their partners and at developing better predictors of fertility, arguing that the fertile (as opposed to infertile) population is under-researched.

Founding story

Afton Vechery co-founded Modern Fertility in 2017 after her own experience seeking baseline fertility testing. Her first job after school was at a healthcare private equity fund, where she led research for an investment in a network of IVF clinics; she later moved to the West Coast to run the consumer tools division at 23andMe. When she asked her OB-GYN to order baseline fertility tests, the request was declined because she was not actively trying and failing to conceive, and she ultimately went to a fertility clinic, received a PCOS diagnosis and paid roughly $1,500 (reported elsewhere as more than $1,500) out of pocket. Discussing the experience with other women convinced her there was a widespread information gap about reproductive health, which became the premise for the company. Carly Leahy co-founded the company and served as Chief Creative Officer.

Business model

Direct-to-consumer sale of physician-ordered diagnostic test kits and related reproductive health products, supported by digital reports, a free app, community forums and nurse-led education. Testing is fulfilled through mail-in at-home collection or in-person draws at Quest Diagnostics locations and processed by a CLIA-certified lab.

Product sales to consumers. The flagship hormone test is priced at $159 (the company's own site shows $179 versus a stated ~$1,000 clinic price) and is not covered by insurance for proactive testing, though the company notes it is eligible for FSA/HSA reimbursement. Additional revenue comes from ovulation and pregnancy tests.

Traction

Reported total funding of $22 million and a team of 25 at the time of acquisition. The app community was described as having more than 10,000 members in November 2020. The company expanded from a single hormone test to a multi-product line during 2020 and was acquired in 2021 in a transaction valued above $225 million.

Latest developments

On May 19, 2021, Ro announced it would acquire Modern Fertility in a deal reported at more than $225 million. Modern Fertility was to be folded into Ro's vertically integrated telehealth, pharmacy and in-home care platform, with Afton Vechery becoming president of women's health and Carly Leahy vice president of brand, women's health. Ro had raised a $500 million Series D in March 2021 at a $5 billion valuation and had separately acquired software company Workpath.