We’re excited to announce that we’ve led the $33M Series B in Gameto,* a biotechnology company developing novel treatment solutions for women’s health.
While a remarkable medical achievement, the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and egg freezing is undeniably grueling. The first step of the process, known as hormonal stimulation, involves hyperstimulation of the ovaries to mature as many eggs as possible through about two weeks of twice-daily self-administered injections. It’s painful, inconvenient, and comes with a handful of mental and physical side effects, from headaches, nausea, and bloating to mood swings and anxiety. Worse, 1 in 3 women experience ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome (OHSS), a painful, potentially dangerous response to stimulation.
But it doesn’t end there. Beyond the toll on mental and physical well-being, the constant injections, side effects, required 3-6 follow-up appointments, and discomfort from the egg retrieval make balancing fertility treatments with a career near impossible. A 2022 Fertility Network UK survey revealed a sobering reality: a third (36%) of respondents felt their careers were damaged due to undergoing fertility treatment.
And we haven’t even addressed the staggering financial burden. According to the N.C.S.L., a single IVF treatment can cost anywhere from $12,000 to $17,000, potentially reaching $25,000 with medication costs factored in. Now consider that it takes an average of three cycles to achieve a successful pregnancy – a price tag that renders this path to parenthood unattainable for many. And egg freezing alone is only slightly less expensive with an average cost of $8,500 to $14,000.
While I’m immensely grateful for the medical advancements that allowed me to have my son, the overall IVF process made me question why the significant financial, physical, and emotional tolls on those pursuing treatment were viewed as unavoidable hurdles to parenthood.
Around that same period, Dr. Dina Radenkovic, Co-founder and CEO of Gameto, was grappling with these challenges firsthand.
Shortly after relocating to New York City, she faced the dilemma that many career-driven women encounter––wanting children but not feeling it was the right time. As her biological clock ticked, she looked into freezing her eggs. Her plans quickly stalled when confronted with the required financial costs and time investment.
Meet Gameto
Their lead program, Fertilo, is a novel investigational in vitro maturation (IVM) solution containing engineered ovarian support cells (OSCs) to mature eggs outside of the body. Previous research showed that Gameto’s approach effectively matures human eggs outside of the body to create healthy human euploid, or genetically normal, embryos, which means eggs could be retrieved from patients with less hormonal stimulation.
By recreating the dynamic follicular environment––the micro-environment within the ovarian follicle where an egg develops and matures before ovulation occurs––in a lab using engineered ovarian support cells (OSCs), research published in Human Reproduction showed that Fertilo significantly reduced the need for hormonal injections and shortened the IVF and egg freezing cycle from 10-14 days to just 2-3 days. Unsurprisingly, compared to conventional stimulation, women in the study who used Fertilo reported fewer side effects, lower pain levels, and higher satisfaction rates.
Gameto’s product candidate, Fertilo, will not only offer a more convenient option for women undergoing fertility treatment, but recently published research shows that eggs matured with Fertilo are genetically similar to eggs that were matured in the human body. A paper published last week in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics found a statistically significant increase in the rate of eggs reaching the critical metaphase II stage required for fertilization compared to eggs matured with IVM, with no observable abnormalities. Remarkably, the eggs matured with Fertilo exhibited improved nuclear maturation and gene expression patterns that more closely mirror those of eggs matured in the human body, showing the highest efficacy rate of euploid embryo formation than any other IVM product reported for human use.
Gameto is initially focusing on optimizing Fertilo for in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures, but plans to leverage this technology to develop solutions for other reproductive health issues, such as ovarian diseases and menopause.
IVF Isn’t Just A Women’s Health Solution
The demand for fertility treatments is surging. In the United States alone, over 2.5 million IVF cycles are performed annually, with a year-over-year growth rate of 7.5%.
Drawing from her expertise as a physician and scientist researching longevity and the epigenetic clock, Dr. Dina Radenkovic views declining fertility as a consequence of extended life expectancy outpacing the biological timeline of a woman’s reproductive years.
Coupled with financial pressures and changes in societal and workforce dynamics, women in their mid-to-late 30s are now having children at similar rates to those in their early to mid-20s.
And difficulty conceiving has unfairly been shouldered by women. Male infertility accounts for half of all infertility cases, and over the past 40 years, sperm counts worldwide have halved. While IVF is commonly associated with treating female infertility, it has become a go-to solution for male infertility due to the relatively low effectiveness of intrauterine insemination (IUI).
IVF is also increasingly being embraced as a pathway to parenthood by populations who have faced barriers in the past. This includes carriers of genetic disorders now identifiable through screening, individuals rendered infertile due to medical treatments or illnesses, as well as single parents and same-sex couples looking to start families. By making IVF more accessible, Gameto would be able to further open doors for these groups to have children.
At the core of our conviction in Gameto is the remarkable team driving this mission forward. Led by Dr. Dina Radenkovic, a physician-turned-entrepreneur with deep expertise in ovarian aging, and Martin Varsavsky, a serial entrepreneur who founded one of North America’s largest fertility clinic networks, Gameto has cultivated a driven, high-performing culture laser-focused on scientific excellence and innovation. Their collective vision, passion, and expertise give us confidence that if any team can revolutionize fertility treatments and open new and more accessible paths to parenthood on a global scale, it is this one.
Gameto is hiring. Learn more here.
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