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TMRW Life Sciences has raised more money for its technology for freezing, tracking and monitoring eggs that it sells to fertility clinics in the US and overseas.
The New York-based startup nabbed $28 million in Series D funding, it confirmed to Endpoints News. The new raise is substantially lower than TMRW’s $105 million Series C from 2021, when digital health funding was booming.
Louis VillalbaIn an interview, TMRW CEO Louis Villalba said the startup didn’t need to raise that much in this round.
“We didn’t take more than we had to because we know the appreciation of the business over the next several quarters is going to advance dramatically,” he said. “We also believe that this gets us very close to being a profitable company, if not a profitable company.”
He declined to disclose TMRW’s valuation, but said that companies’ valuations often shift when they start making revenue.
“Things are quite different now that we’re a revenue company,” he said. The company started recording sales during the second half of 2023, he said.
The latest round was led by existing investor 5AM Ventures, with participation from GV, Transformation Capital, hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin and comedian Amy Schumer, Villalba said. A securities filing said 69 investors participated in the round.
Founded in 2018, TMRW partners with fertility clinics such as Kindbody and CCRM Fertility to store eggs in freezers, and then provides clinics with software to help digitally track and monitor them. It’s an upgrade from the traditional method of storing eggs in metal tanks and manually keeping track of records on spreadsheets, Villalba said. TMRW’s founders also created health tech company Conceivable Life Sciences, which is automating the IVF process.
Storing eggs can be a lucrative business because it doesn’t cost much to maintain storage space while patients continue to pay annual fees, Villalba said, but it’s also a high-risk business as there’s no reversing damage to mishandled eggs. To combat the risk, TMRW requires those who want to access the eggs to go through biometric scans, and deploys 24/7 software to monitor the state of the eggs and embryos stored. It also received FDA clearance for its product in 2022.
TMRW currently has contracts with 63 fertility clinics in the US and UK combined, and stores eggs, embryos and sperm for more than 42,000 patients, Villalba said. It’s planning to use the fresh funds to expand its footprint, including internationally next year. TMRW already has a small presence in the UK, he said.
Correction: A previous version of the article said TMRW stores eggs for around 42,000 patients. It has been corrected to say TMRW stores eggs, embryos and sperm for more than 42,000 patients.