Mixing machine learning with fertility technology could be a science fiction plot. It can also be a company. Felicia von Reden started Ovom Care in 2023 to build software to make the often strenuous IVF process more efficient and more affordable. Ovom uses artificial intelligence to help doctors determine the right medication and dosage for each patient, and even identify the most viable eggs and sperm in a patient's body. “What makes this company unique is that we have two parts: technical innovation with AI and data, and medical care at the clinic,” she said. “Only if you bring the two together can you develop innovation that brings that value to the patient.” Valued at $22 million, Ovom has brought in $8 million in funding to develop the technology.
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00:00The AI space is obviously moving so quickly, same with many forms of technology, but the
00:06healthcare industry has been historically slower to adapt to things for a lot of reasons.
00:12But how do you walk the line of making sure that you're innovating quick enough,
00:14especially as a startup, while also having to deal with a maybe slower industry in a lot of ways?
00:20So the unique thing about our company is we are essentially two companies at the same time.
00:24We are a technology company. We're just really developing algorithms to personalize fertility
00:29care. And the other side, we are also a healthcare provider because we offer those services directly
00:33to the patient. And that's the key as we're both of that. Because if you only develop technology and
00:39then wait for the market to adopt it, you have a time lag in there, right? And that's something
00:43that we wanted to bridge on purpose. So we develop technology and we bring it directly to the patient
00:48as we also are the care provider. So that way we shorten that lag significantly and we work with
00:54the patient as we innovate, as we go ahead. So we shorten that time by quite a lot.
00:59And is that a reason that you guys have your own clinics as well? Because I mean, theoretically,
01:03you could have just created the technology and then offered it to other providers,
01:07but I'm guessing that's why you wanted to keep it in-house.
01:10That's exactly what I mentioned. It takes a long time for traditional healthcare providers,
01:14which has been in the market for 10, 15, 20, 30 years, to get them to adopt new technology. They're
01:19rather reluctant. They're open, like the openness is growing, don't get me wrong. And we love to see
01:24that. But as to iterate faster what works, what doesn't work, you know, how to actually go into
01:28the space and the new innovation, you need to be directly with the patient. So that's one reason
01:33why we actually have our own clinic and our own service provision within all of them.