Forbes | Jillian Canning
September 11, 2019, 8:57 AM EDT
Yesterday, Kindbody celebrated the grand opening of their NYC flagship clinic (102 Fifth Avenue), the first one-stop-shop for all women’s health and fertility needs. The NYC flagship is the second brick-and-mortar clinic in New York and immediately follows the successful opening of the San Francisco clinic in August. Kindbody plans to launch in three additional markets in 2020, including Los Angeles.
Gina Bartasi, CEO of Kindbody, is the mom of IVF twin boys. While going through fertility treatment herself, Bartasi found that nothing spoke to the transparency and data. There was a lack of clarity on which doctors to hire and the actual cost of the treatment. Frustrated by the opaqueness of the fertility industry, Bartasi founded her first two fertility startups, FertilityAuthority, a global content platform for men and women struggling with fertility (acquired by Kleiner Perkins and TPG), and Progyny, a fertility benefits platform for employers. With two successful exits under her belt, Bartasi founded Kindbody and has closed $22 million in funding from RRE, Perceptive Advisors, Green D Ventures, Trail Mix Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, Chelsea Clinton, and others.
Capitalizing on the $50B Femtech space, Kindbody offers a range of fertility services from diagnostics to treatment. To get started, and as a first step in the egg freezing or IVF process, women can learn about their fertility through Kindbody’s Fertility Assessment. The Fertility Assessment is offered for $300 and includes a comprehensive review of medical history, a vaginal ultrasound, bloodwork, and a personalized treatment plan. To differentiate from several traditional gynecologists, Kindbody offers 60-minute assessment appointments and performs tests for ovarian reserve via an Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) test and an antral follicle count (AFC), which is significant because it is believed that 1 in 5 women under the age of 32 have diminished ovarian reserve. In addition to starting with a Fertility Assessment, women can book wellness coaching, therapy sessions, and return-to-work coaching.
As for Preservation and IVF, Kindbody offers egg freezing and embryo freezing, starting at $6,000, and annual storage at Kindbody labs and lab partners for $600/year. Visibly a much cheaper option than the $10,000+ average cost of alternatives. IVF treatments at Kindbody start at $12,500 for one cycle. Because of their investment in technology, Kindbody is able to drive operational efficiencies and thus able to charge less for their services.
Starting in NYC, for $10/month, Kindbody members have access to a full suite of gynecologic services, including an annual gynecology check-up, same-day urgent care, contraceptive counseling, on-demand virtual appointments, and preconception counseling. Members also have access to discounted wellness services, like nutrition counseling, acupuncture, mental health counseling, and supplements recommended in their visits.
“The future of Kindbody is intentionally much bigger than fertility alone” explained Bartasi. Instead, it holistically addresses women’s health with gynecological services, mental health services, and nutrition/wellness services for women ages 25-45. In addition to tackling the $7 billion TAM of the U.S. fertility market, they are focused on a U.S. TAM of $80 billion with plans to scale internationally. Bartasi founded Kindbody to create more accessibility, “there’s latent demand, if the U.S. had coverage similar to Israel, where IVF is covered, it would create another $6 billion in TAM; so, we know there’s pent-up demand, but the challenge has been that treatment is only for the 1%, and we’re on a mission to change that.”
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