Healthtech startup Ava, maker of the ovulation and pregnancy tracking Ava sensor bracelet, has today announced a $30m (£23m) Series B fundraising round from existing investors and new European venture capital participants Btov and SVC.
Co-founder Pascal Koenig has said the new funds will be used to further product research and development to enhance the bracelet, and create new apps that can provide women with data insights on their reproductive health through scientific methods.
The bracelet, designed to be worn overnight, uses a combination of nine physiological parameters, like temperature, resting pulse rate and sleep to monitor a womans fertility or pregnancy in real time. Regulated by the US medical body FDA as a class one medical device, Ava has been proven in clinical studies to detect an average of 5.3 fertile days in a womans cycle as they happen.
As a comparison, other forms of ovulation tracking, such as urinary LH or combined estrogen and LH tests, can only provide windows of up to four days. This latest round takes Ava's total funding to $43m.
The funding comes as the world of femtech is experiencing a boom in new entrants and uptake, with the likes of period-tracking apps like Clue and Glow undergoing major fundraises in the last two years, and wearable giants like FitBit adding new cycles features.
Read more: Fitbit has had talks with the NHS about wearables
Natural Cycles, a tracking app which was the first to be approved as a classified contraceptive last year, was reported to Swedish officials in January after 37 women experienced unwanted pregnancies after relying on the app as their sole form of contraception.
Koenig said: “Avas long-term vision is to accompany women through all stages of their reproductive life by providing data-driven, clinically proven technology that will make a womans life easier, healthier and better — be it when they just want to understand their body, while they are trying to prevent pregnancy, trying to get pregnant, are pregnant or entering menopause.”
The app also announced it has reached a new milestone of 10,000 confirmed pregnancies among its users since it launched in 2016.
