Our Investment in Conceive

Some problems are hidden in plain sight — invisible to the casual observer, but glaring to the discerning eye. Conception is one of these. 1 in 6 couples struggles to reproduce around the world. Miscarriage, infertility, and other conception challenges turn up everywhere you look. And yet, they are hidden. Many families go through the conception journey without the support even of immediate family and friends. Even in 2022, the isolation and stigma of conception challenges looms large. We are thrilled to announce our investment in Conceive, a bold idea (with startling results!) to solve the conception problem for hopeful families across the world. But first, some background.

The medical system has woefully underprepared our society for these challenges: there are 1700 reproductive endocrinologists — specialists who focus on the hormones relating to reproduction — in the United States. For context, there are 7,000 cosmetic surgeons (and 25,000 doctors who conduct cosmetic surgeries generally) and 13,000 urologists.

And fertility challenges are not intuitive. Fertility is considered a woman’s health issue — but more than half of global childlessness comes from male infertility. An average woman will go 10 years before getting an endometriosis diagnosis, which is a key contributor to female fertility. Fertility is also medically complex: each family has their own set of hormonal inputs, life circumstances, and behavioral patterns all of which imply different clinical interventions. Personalization is absolutely necessary.

Fertility is the central story for our species — of any species! It is our only true chance at legacy. And it is, for many families, the most important decision they take in their lives. My family recently welcomed our second child into the world. It was not a straightforward journey to get here, and I wondered, throughout, why it was such a mysterious process, despite millions of years of practice, and thousands of years of study, and a century of optimization. And then I came across Conceive.

Conceive uses personalized coaching in community cohorts to educate, guide, and treat families through their conception journey .For certain types of health intervention, a doctor’s orders are often not enough. Personalization, coaching, and community can give a person confidence, context, and comfort as they navigate the journey. The more stigmatized, the more idiosyncratic the treatments, and the more complex the diagnoses, the better these methods work. And their results have been unbelievable. In their beta program, 54% of Conceive members became pregnant and 36% uncovered new diagnoses. You don’t hear conversion numbers like that… anywhere. It works.

And the team is extraordinary. Lauren came from Weight Watchers, where she saw a similar model pioneered at global scale, and she has assembled a world class team of reproductive endocrinologists, nurses, designers, and software engineers to scale her program across the world.

I can hardly think of a more important mission. We are honored to partner with Conceive in their first round of financing. Follow along on their journey here. And, of course, they are hiring!