Ovuline Raises $1.4 Million Seed Round Led by Lightbank

BOSTON, Jan. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Ovuline, a leader in healthcare IT for pregnancy, today announced $1.4 million in seed financing. Lightbank led the round, with participation from Launch Capital, LionBird and Techstars founder and CEO David Cohen. The funding allows Ovuline to continue development of its mobile and Web-based Smart Fertility™ product and expand its presence in the pregnancy tracking space.

Launched in June 2012, Ovuline uses technology and machine learning to help couples have children, and its statistics show that Ovuline users conceive two times faster than the national average. The company's fertility product, Smart Fertility™, has already helped 20,000 women conceive.

Additionally, Ovuline is currently developing a pregnancy-tracking product with top fertility doctors around the United States. Ovuline's Pregnancy Tracker uses wearable health tracking devices and mobile technology to continuously monitor a woman's key pregnancy health indicators, including weight, nutrition, activity, blood pressure, sleep and physical/emotional symptoms. Ovuline uses this data to alert women if they have an acute health risk and gives them personalized advice on how to have a healthier pregnancy based on analysis of their unique data.

"The Ovuline team is incredibly excited to receive the support of such high value-add financial partners who believe in our vision of using technology to make it easier and safer for couples to have children," said Paris Wallace, founder and CEO of Ovuline. "The coming together of several major technology and healthcare trends are making it possible for women to improve their fertility and pregnancy outcomes like never before. This financing will help Ovuline to continue to pioneer efforts in providing women with tools that meaningfully change the way they have babies and track their pregnancies."

Ovuline co-founder and CEO Paris Wallace brings a track-record of building companies in the health IT and fertility industries. He is also the founder of Boston-based Good Start Genetics, a company that tests parents prior to a pregnancy to assess whether they are at risk of passing on a genetic disorder to their child. Good Start Genetics has raised more than $30 million in venture capital and its product, GoodStart Select™, is available at fertility clinics nationwide. On the technical side, Ovuline co-founder and CTO Alex Baron holds a PhD in computer science and has extensive experience in machine learning and natural language processing.

"Ovuline is already demonstrating the kind of leadership in a new technology space that we are excited about funding," said Bill Pescatello, principal at Lightbank. "In a short amount of time, Ovuline has earned the trust of tens of thousands of users and demonstrated the sophistication it takes to build a loyal consumer following. We are impressed by the high-quality technology, compassion and care that Paris Wallace and the Ovuline team bring to both their business model and consumers. We look forward to working with the team to help transform the pregnancy process for millions of women."

Ovuline completed Boston Techstars, an accelerator program for entrepreneurs, in November 2012. Its Pregnancy Tracker product is currently being used by beta users across the country and will be commercially available later in 2013.

About Ovuline:
Ovuline is a Health IT company that uses clinically proven guidelines and machine learning to help couples have children. Ovuline uses a woman's unique data to help her conceive faster and have a healthy pregnancy. For more information, visit http://www.ovuline.com.
Twitter: @ovuline | FB: facebook.com/Ovuline

About Lightbank:
Lightbank is a Chicago-based investment fund focused on early-stage technology companies. Founded by Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, who are founders of Groupon, MediaBank, InnerWorkings (NASDAQ:INWK) and Echo Global Logistics (NASDAQ:ECHO), Lightbank not only makes investments of capital, but also takes an active hands-on role in helping entrepreneurs ensure their early and mid-stage businesses grow and succeed. To learn more, please visit http://www.lightbank.com.

Contact:
Paris Wallace
CEO
Ovuline, Inc.
[email protected]

SOURCE Lightbank; Ovuline