Kindbody is looking to breathe new life into a fertility care market that’s in desperate need of a makeover, and it just secured $100M in Series D funding to help accomplish that mission.
Founded in 2018 by the femtech power duo of Joanne Schneider (now CEO of Oula) and Gina Bartasi (former CEO of Progyny), Kindbody is aiming to make fertility care more accessible in areas where a lack of competition is driving up costs.
How does Kindbody plan on achieving that? By functioning as both payer and provider to offer patients a top tier hybrid care experience while contracting directly with employers to keep costs under control.
- The payvidor model also allows Kindbody to offer bundled rates for its services, which range from fertility consults to in-vitro fertilization and pretty much everything in between.
- The company owns and operates a network of 31 clinics nationwide, placing a heavy emphasis on the patient experience that’s immediately recognizable in their design-forward “lobbies” – its term for waiting rooms where patients don’t have to wait.
- Now for the kicker: Kindbody’s on pace to be EBITDA positive by the end of this year.
The funds were earmarked for building 10 new clinics in underserved areas while continuing to expand employer partnerships. Last year Kindbody added 42 large employer clients, including the largest employer of them all: Walmart.
- Kindbody is now the fertility benefits provider for 112 companies (covering 2.4M lives), which accounts for roughly half of its revenue. The other half is split between managed care services and D2C patients.
- Kindbody also made it clear that strategic acquisitions are on the table. It’s already acquired Vios Fertility Institute (clinic footprint expansion), Phosphorus Labs (genetic testing), and Alternative Reproductive Resources (surrogacy agency).
The Takeaway
Kindbody’s nine figure funding round propelled it to a $1.8B valuation, making it the second fertility startup to join the unicorn club and giving it a good amount of runway to sharpen its operations ahead of next year’s IPO season. It also reaffirmed what might end up being the digital health theme of the year: no market is a bad market for investing in profitable startups that are meeting a real need.
