The startup founded by Professor Melina Schuh and Dr. Agata Zielinska, Ovo Labs has raised £4 million in seed funding to advance their approach to improving egg quality in women over 35. LocalGlobe and Creator Fund led the investment and is intended to speed up the company’s path to clinical trials with IVF clinics.
Ovo created therapeutics that address declining egg quality with age, specifically in women above 35, targeting the increasing rate of genetic errors in eggs. The results have shown success in enhancing the quality of unfertilized human eggs ex vivo, potentially increasing the chances of successful conception through IVF.
“Ovo Labs’ mission is to make the dream of parenthood a reality for millions of couples who struggle to conceive. By helping to increase the number of viable eggs, we aim to extend the reproductive window, empowering more couples to have children at a time that feels right to them. Ovo Labs’ technology also offers a potential solution for declining birth rates, which is a trend observed in many countries worldwide,” said Professor Melina Schuh, Ovo Labs Co-Founder & Scientific Advisor.
The decline in fertility presents significant challenges. As women cross 40, over 70% of a woman’s eggs carry genetic abnormalities, complicating the process of conception. Standard IVF treatment fails for around 80% of women in their late 30s, leaving tens of millions of couples childless.
Ovo Labs could redefine what IVF success looks like at the clinical trials stage, offering a new hope to women and families navigating infertility later in life.
Blue Wire Capital, Ahren Innovation Capital, and Antonio Pellicer, founder of the world’s largest chain of IVF clinics, participated in the funding round. This will help the company to advance their therapeutics toward clinical trials.
Jamie Macfarlane who co-led the deal from Creator Fund, added: “This company has been twenty years in the making. It is the product of decades of pioneering scientific work to understand the origin of human life and why age impacts our ability to reproduce. It is inspiring to see European scientists of this calibre launch a company solving such a fundamental question facing humanity. We believe that the science at the heart of this business has the potential to change whether, when and how couples have children.”
Emma Phillips, Investment Partner, Local Globe, who co-led the investment, also said: “Women and couples deserve better odds of IVF success, which Ovo Labs delivers. LocalGlobe is thrilled to support this team of world leading scientists tackling the core challenges of fertility with groundbreaking solutions.”
This new technology could not only address individual fertility challenges but also improve the falling global birth rates.
