- TMRW Life Sciences, an integrated platform for automated software-guided embryology and cryo-management company, announced it raised $25 million
TMRW Life Sciences — an integrated platform for automated software-guided embryology and cryo-management founded by Joshua Abram, Alan Murray, and Jeffrey Port — announced it has raised $25 million in Series B funding led by 5AM Ventures.
TMRW’s co-founders are serial tech and life sciences entrepreneurs. And their immediate prior ventures sold for a combined sum of more than $1 billion. And this round of funding brings total investment in TMRW to $39 million over the past year.
The TMRW ivfOS platform is ready to play a central role in the conception of tens of millions of people in the coming years. And TMRW provides a 100% physical and digital chain of custody, protecting and tracking eggs, embryos, and sperm through RFID-enabled technology.
“No would-be parent should have to worry about whether their vitrified eggs and embryos are safe,” said Abram. “TMRW has worked with leading physicians, embryologists, and lab directors to create an integrated ivfOS platform that combines innovative RFID technology and the highest standards of cryo-management to provide parents security that the fertility cells central to the conception of their children are safe and secure.”
With more than 300 million global births predicted as the result of IVF by 2100, the need for IVF clinics to adopt an automated method for managing reproductive cells is crucial. And nearly all of these births will stem from vitrified (or flash-frozen) cells. Today, IVF clinics are responsible for the management of over 100 million frozen reproductive cells, a scale which the current manual, analog system is challenged to manage safely.
“We are enormously excited about the promise of TMRW,” added 5AM Ventures Managing Partner Andy Schwab. “Viewed against the backdrop of hundreds of millions of projected births as the result of advances in IVF treatment, TMRW’s contribution could not be more necessary or important.”
TMRW’s SaaS digital chain of custody platform is designed to eliminate sample management issues widely reported in the fertility space, including loss of eggs and embryos through human error and implantation mix-ups. And TMRW’s five leading clinic partners —which account for 10% of all U.S. IVF activity — are preparing for a commercial rollout in Q1 2020.
“Melanie’s experience is the perfect preparation for her work at TMRW,” commented Murray. “She brings a proven track record of quickly and efficiently scaling innovation and creating value for all stakeholders.”
Along with the funding announcement, TMRW also appointed Melanie Goldey as its Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Goldey was previously the CFO of Refinery29, a leading diversified media brand for women. And Goldey was instrumental to Refinery29’s recent merger with VICE Media, which created the largest independent digital media company in the world valued at $4 billion. Before that, Goldey was an executive at Everyday Health and guided the firm through multiple acquisitions, a successful IPO, and ultimately its sale for nearly $500 million to Ziff Davis.
“My role at TMRW combines a number of long-held passions: technology, consumer-focused healthcare, and taking companies to the next level so that their innovative solutions can quickly benefit as many people as possible,” stated Goldey. “The TMRW Founders and team have brought the company to such an inflection point, and I’m thrilled to arrive just as we move from our successful clinical studies into our commercial launch.”
TMRW was represented in this transaction by Jon Ain of Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen, P.C.
