Egg Freezing And The Future Of Reproduction

Women are increasingly opting to freeze their eggs, especially as more companies offer it as a benefit. But those who are among the early adopters see a big opportunity to improve the experience for the next generation.

Kristina Simmons, a chief of staff and investor at Khosla Ventures, is one of many women who decided to freeze her eggs.

Thousands of women do this every year, for a variety of reasons: Because they don't want kids now but worry that their eggs will no longer be viable when they decide to try, because they haven't met the right partner yet, to hedge against the possibility of health problems later on or for other reasons.

But Simmons stands out among her peers: She's one of a few women who are investing in start-ups that aim to solve many of the biggest problems with egg freezing today.

In going through the process herself, Simmons saw a lot of room for improvement. For many women, especially those who aren't covered at all or only partially by insurance, it costs thousands of dollars out-of-pocket. And it's also a very involved process that requires hormone injections and regular blood draws at the clinic.

In a bid to change that, Simmons, who's in her early thirties, has invested in a couple of start-ups in the space. Overture, a biotechnology start-up that is also backed by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, aims to use technology to make the egg freezing process more affordable and accessible. Higia, a wearable that can be placed beneath a bra to detect breast cancer early and is also moving into fertility-tracking, which might help women figure out if and when they should look into egg freezing.

Simmons said she's currently in talks to invest a handful of other companies, also related to egg freezing and women's health more broadly. "I'm passionate about rethinking this for women altogether," she said.

The number of women opting to freeze their eggs has skyrocketed since 2012, when the American Society of Reproductive Medicine stopped classifying it as an experimental procedure. In 2009, only 500 women underwent egg freezing cycles, but in 2016, there were 9,000. That's the most recently available data, but that number is expected to be far higher today given the bump in insurance coverage for egg freezing. As a result, U.S. fertility clinics generated close to $2 billion in revenue in 2017, and they're popping up across the country.
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Egg Freezing And The Future Of Reproduction