HIGH-TECH FERTILITY
There’s an app for that: startups want to help couples conceive,
Several startups developing devices, wearable tech, apps to help couples get pregnant
SAN JOSE, CALIF.— As Silicon Valley technophiles use devices to collect data on everything from how many calories they burn to their fluctuating stress levels and their posture, a group of entrepreneurs is bringing that technology somewhere new — into the bedroom.
For couples trying to get pregnant, failure can be frustrating and heartbreaking. Traditional options can seem low-tech — urinate on a stick, take a daily temperature reading or provide a semen sample. Or they are prohibitively expensive and invasive — spend $10,000 to $20,000 on in vitro fertilization.
Now, tapping into what they say is a booming market of want-to-be parents, a number of startups are developing high-tech alternatives that give men and women detailed fertility readings at home.
Lea von Bidder, co-founder of Ava, which shipped its first wearable fer- tility sensors last month, said the common ways to track fertility don’t cut it for Silicon Valley’s career-driven, tech-savvy women.
Ava, based in San Francisco and Switzerland, developed a wristband that uses a woman’s heart rate, temperature, breathing and other metrics to calculate when she can get pregnant each month. Other companies make ear buds, underarm patches and smart oral thermometers that detect the slight body temperature increase that follows ovulation. Most women have a six-day monthly window when they can get pregnant, and as more women opt to have children later in life — possibly reducing their chances of conception — timing their efforts correctly can become even more important.
Julie Aksland, 29, of San Francisco, has been trying for a second child off and on since December.
Tired of blindly guessing when she should be trying, Aksland started using urine sticks (they didn’t work), fertility apps (different apps told her to try on different days) and thermometers (daily temperature readings became a hassle while chasing her 2-year-old). So Aksland signed up to be an Ava beta tester. She loves that she can wear the bracelet sensor at night and wake up to detailed information about her cycle.
Society tends to view infertility as a woman’s problem, even though the male partner is responsible in about half of cases, said Greg Sommer, cofounder and chief scientific officer of Sandstone Diagnostics.
So Sommer and his team developed Trak, a $159.99 sperm-testing device that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in May. The user puts a few drops of semen into a disposable cartridge and plugs it into the machine, which spins the sample, using centrifugal force to isolate and count sperm cells. Trak then gives the user his sperm count.
For those with lower counts, the accompanying Trak app gives men personalized recommendations. The goal is to remove the taboo and make men feel more comfortable addressing their sperm count.
“Fertility is a difficult topic,” Sommer said. “It’s a very painful and private and stressful and difficult thing that couples go through. Even a couple can have trouble talking about it amongst themselves.”