Fertility platform Elawoman raises $3 M from Chiratae Ventures

Fertility platform, Elawoman raised $ 3 million in Series A, led by Chiratae Ventures. The platform plans to use the funds to enhance technology and expand to non-metro cities.

Delhi-based data-driven fertility platform, Elawoman, raised $3 million in series A round of funding. The round was led by Chiratae Ventures (previously known as IDG Ventures India), along with healthcare and consumption focused co-investor Alkemi Venture Partners.

Founded in 2016, Elawoman has more than 5,400 doctors and fertility clinics listed in more than 32 cities. The fertility platform has more than 2.5 lakh users and receives more than 1,100 inquiries each day. Elawoman intends to use the funds to enhance its technology and expand its presence in non-metro cities and beyond national geographies - to Asia Pacific countries, catering to more than a $4 billion market.

"The Asia-Pacific region alone has more than 70 million couples going through the challenges of infertility. This number is only expected to increase given the impact of stress and other lifestyle issues are having on conception. We are very happy to partner with the team at Elawoman who are putting together a platform to help couples deal with the challenges of infertility more effectively," said Ranjith Menon, Executive Director at Chiratae Ventures.

Elawoman uses Aritificial Intelligence-driven patient-doctor matching algorithm to increase success rate of pregnancies. It functions as a one stop solution for its users - providing video-tele consultation, emotional and family counseling, legal support, medical loans and medical tourism - all under one umbrella. The platform also provides a support community to women, to help them understand their bodies better.

Elawoman CEO, Ritu Singh said,"Infertility is a major social taboo in India which can be addressed with the help of technology. Further, absence of independent advice and non-transparency in pricing for most fertility treatments including IVF and Surrogacy, further widens the void. We aim to bridge this gap by building a transparent data-driven community where users can access independent and trusted advice and can connect with specialised experienced doctors specific to their fertility need."

With more than 4.6 million data points captured monthly, the platform is currently doing more than 2500 fertility consultations per month and achieving eight pregnancies every hour, through its Ovulation Fertility App. Elawoman also has an inbuilt fertility calculator, which allows users to enter their medical condition on more than 30 parameters. Based on his/her medical condition, the AI-driven algorithm also suggests the best suitable treatment with a price estimate.

“For us at Alkemi, Elawoman represents an intersection of the favourable macro trend for In-vitro fertilization services with an execution focused, motivated, result oriented team. We firmly believe that Elawoman is creating an intangible asset by building deeper symbiotic relationships with the Gynecologists which can go a long way in building the technology driven Ecosystem," says Dr. Preet Pal, Co-Founder of Alkemi Venture Partners.

Elawoman is free for users and has partnerships with reputed fertility chains across India including brands like Apollo Fertility, Apollo Cradle, Cloudnine Hospital, Morpheus IVF, Dr. Rama Fertility, Bavishi IVF and Iswarya Fertility.

According to media reports, India's market for In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) is expected to grow to Rs 500 crore by 2020. According to EY Publications, IVF cycles are estimated to increase from an estimated 1,00,000 cycles currently to 2,60,000 cycles by 2020 driven by an increase in number of infertile couples seeking treatment. This paves the road for tremendous growth of fertility platforms.