INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
In recent years, focus on career and delayed marriage age is driving some women to consider preserving their fertility through egg
most fertile years: 20s and early 30s.Cofertility, a startup founded by former Uber executive Lauren Makler and health tech angel investor
Halle Tecco, offers women no-cost egg freezing in exchange for donating half the retrieved eggs to those unable to conceive.The
three-year-old startup just raised a $7.25 million Series A round led by Next Ventures and Offline Ventures, with participation from
Initialized, Gaingels, and several other investors
A 2018 diagnosis of a rare abdominal disease led to multiple surgeries that threatened the loss of her ovaries.In such situations, doctors
sometimes suggest egg freezing for young women who want to have children, but that was not an option for Makler.So, she started to learn as
much as possible about egg donation.She knew donors were compensated for their eggs, but she was shocked to learn how expensive the eggs
If she wanted an egg from a Jewish donor to match her background, it would cost more
naturally, but that experience led her to want to build a business that matches young women who wish to preserve their fertility with people
who need a donor egg.While the concept of egg sharing is not new, Makler claims that Cofertility is the only company that offers eggs at
donors come from diverse backgrounds and that about 55% of them have graduate degrees.Intended parents cover the egg retrieval costs and
