Legacy Secures $1.5M Seed Funding to Advance At-Home Sperm Analysis, Enhancement, and Cryopreservation Services

Recently, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned from foreign media reports that the startup Legacy has completed a $1.5 million seed financing round. The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures. The funds will be used to expand the company’s male fertility services, including sperm analysis, improvement, and cryopreservation.

Legacy was founded in January 2018 at the Harvard Innovation Labs in the United States, dedicated to providing sperm testing, improvement, and cryopreservation services to address the challenges posed by declining male fertility. Leveraging its expertise in reproductive health, a world-class advisory board, and rigorous data analytics, the company has established a leading position in the rapidly evolving field of male fertility.

As a member of Harvard University’s alumni startup incubator, Legacy won the startup competition hosted by TechCrunch Disrupt in November 2018 and has been widely covered by multiple media outlets.

Legacy enables male clients to access simple sperm testing, optimization, and cryopreservation services without the need for clinics or physicians. The company delivers Legacy kits directly to customers based on their needs; after sample collection, the kits are shipped to Legacy’s partner clinics for clinical-grade analysis. Within 24 hours, clients receive a comprehensive fertility report detailing parameters such as semen volume, sperm count, concentration, motility, and morphology, along with information on cryopreservation services provided by world-class low-temperature storage facilities. Among couples who fail to conceive within six months, 40% opt to conduct male fertility testing at home directly through Legacy.

Daniel Madero, a partner at Legacy, stated, “It is time to change the outdated notion that fertility is solely a female issue. Today, approximately one in seven couples experiences infertility, with male factors accounting for 30% to 50% of these cases. As more couples choose to delay childbearing, their fertility is adversely affected; in particular, sperm quality declines annually as men age.”

Data scientists at the Harvard Innovation Labs developed a recommendation service for Legacy, which analyzes over 50 data points to provide customers with personalized assessments and lifestyle advice. Legacy maintains a clear stance on customer privacy, refusing to sell customer data to external entities.

Legacy has built solid trust with its users by centering its services on privacy, quality, and safety. Khaled Kteily, CEO of Legacy, stated, “We are committed to balancing the responsibilities of both men and women in family planning. Our goal is not merely to innovate or disrupt conventions, but to become a market leader 50 or 100 years from now. A value-driven service approach is essential to building customer trust. We believe that Legacy’s services will achieve widespread adoption in the future.”

Legacy has implemented additional measures to ensure the company’s sustainable development. Each client is assigned a unique CLIENTID to preserve anonymity, with end-to-end data encryption achieved through multiple layers of data redundancy. To mitigate long-tail risks, the company also distributes clients’ cryopreserved sperm across multiple geographic locations for storage.

Yumin Choi, a partner at Bain Capital, stated: “The founding of Legacy directly responds to the rapidly growing demand in the field of male fertility. Most consumers find it difficult to access relevant services due to the complexity and high cost of sperm testing and storage. However, Legacy’s technology enables them to obtain affordable sperm cryopreservation services at home, receive personalized assessment results within a few days, and connect with local suppliers based on their individual needs.”

Bain Capital Ventures, founded in 2001 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, maintains offices in San Francisco, New York, Boston, and Palo Alto. The firm primarily invests in startups from the seed to growth stages, focusing on sectors such as cloud services, logistics, e-commerce, finance, and healthcare, with a commitment to driving transformation across industries.

Bain Capital manages $4.9 billion in assets and has invested in more than 240 companies, including DocuSign, Jet.com, Kiva Systems, LinkedIn, Rapid7, Rent The Runway, SendGrid, SurveyMonkey, Taleo, TellApart, and Turbonomic.

(Compiled by Tang Lulu)