Investing in Carrot Fertility: Improving Family Formation For Global Employees

Today, Carrot Fertility announced its $11.5M Series A round and we’re proud to be the lead investor during this exciting time for the company. Carrot is improving family formation for employees at today’s modern companies by providing inclusive, global, benefits plans.

As an issue that hits close to home for millions of people, we’re not only excited about the market growth, but also the opportunities the Carrot team brings to families across the globe.

Why are fertility benefits important?

In the past ten years, the number of assisted reproductive technology cycles (namely IVF) has more than doubled from 126,000 cycles in 2006 to 264,000 in 2016. The number of egg freezing cycles has grown even more quickly, from just 13,000 in 2006 to 468,000 in 2015 — that is a 36x increase in ten years!

While these numbers reflect the massive growth in demand for two of the more common procedures, the overall fertility market is considerably larger. Many people interact with other services such as fertility testing and consultations, sperm freezing, genetic testing, and surrogacy.

We expect that the number of people seeking fertility services will continue to grow at a rapid rate. More women are choosing to have children later in life or by themselves, millennials (both women and men) are being educated about the importance of fertility testing, and LGBTQ couples are increasingly exploring their options to build a family.

However, fertility services can be prohibitively expensive and difficult to access. Depending on where you live, a single round of IVF or egg freezing can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and it can take months to get an appointment at a clinic. Insurance often doesn’t cover any of the costs or help route you to the right provider, making it tough to seek and pay for treatment.

Why Carrot?

After realizing the potential to build a large and enduring business in fertility services, we set out to find an exceptional team with a market-leading product. My partners, Saar Gur, Justine Moore and Olivia Moore, conducted primary research and led our study of the space from a consumer perspective, while I focused on enterprise opportunities. In the end (in true CRV fashion!), I was introduced to Tammy by another CRV entrepreneur, and spent almost a year getting to know her before we had the chance to invest.

I was invited to join a Carrot all-hands meeting and it was immediately clear the energy in the room aligned with Tammy and her mission. As a result of her personal experience with egg freezing, she’s passionate about improving access to fertility care, and her operational expertise at the Clinton Foundation, Evernote, and the FCC enables her to meld technology and innovation into this emerging category. She and her team have been fearless in both selling the Carrot platform to global companies, and developing an educational and empathetic consumer-facing app.

When talking with employers considering fertility benefits, we also found that Carrot is the clear leader in providing access to fertility services regardless of age, gender, location, marital status, and sexual orientation. Carrot enables employers to ensure their employees get the best care without worrying about how they will afford it.

For the end consumer, Carrot offers a range of benefits. Part or all of their costs of treatment are covered by their employer, they get easy access to appointments at top providers, and payments processing is easy. Perhaps most importantly, anyone can access Carrot — you don’t need to have a diagnosis of infertility, which typically applies to straight couples who have been attempting to conceive for at least 6–12 months.

Beyond my belief that Carrot is a best-in-class product in a growing market, enabling broader access to family formation is personally important to me. One of my family members is gay, one is transgender, and one was conceived through surrogacy, so I’m thrilled there are fertility options available to them through companies like Carrot. I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Tammy and the entire Carrot team as they work to build the future of fertility.