The co-founders of a tech start-up which aims to create a one-stop shop for people trying to have a baby have enjoyed 270 per cent revenue growth in the last 12 months.
Best friends Kobi McCardle and Dr Lucy Buckley launched Dr Fertility in April 2017 while on maternity leave and are now looking to expand internationally.
The tech start-up aims to create a one-stop shop for people trying to have a baby by providing fertility education, support and products to help people conceive.
After experiencing their own fertility journeys and seeing friends and family struggle to conceive, the entrepreneurs realised that when it comes to the online space, there can be lots of conflicting information and many products making big unsubstantiated claims.
Dr Fertility works with leading fertility experts to develop simplified and research-based content and every product they sell goes through an internal quality review process before it is offered to customers on their website.
Buckley, who has a background of being both a community and hospital pharmacist as well as medical affairs working at Teva, Novartis and Baxter Healthcare, said McCardle’s background as eCommerce director at electrical retailer AO complements her skills and experience perfectly.
“We’re both ambitious and have already attracted interest from investors to fund our next stage of growth,” she said. “We’ve enjoyed continuous growth and hope to expand internationally in the next two-three years.
“Currently we’re catering for the domestic market but we think we’re perfectly placed to scale internationally and that’s the aim of the business.
“We believe Dr Fertility has the opportunity to be a global brand in digital health.”
“We think we’re perfectly placed to scale internationally and that’s the aim of the business. We believe Dr Fertility has the opportunity to be a global brand in digital health”
Explaining how the business idea came about, Dr Buckley said the friends were living together in a flat in Didsbury when the issue of getting married and having children kept being raised both at work and in their social circles.
“We were two single girls in our 30s and had been very focused on our career,” she said, “but all people wanted to know was when we were going to meet a guy and whether we were worried about our biological clocks ticking. At the time we weren’t, but we realised that there wasn’t anywhere to go for trusted fertility education and products online.
“Kobi and I both met our husbands via internet dating and were married within six months of each other. People joked that we did everything together and we had our babies (Rufus and Matilda) within four weeks of each other.
“When we came up with the idea, a lot of our friends and family were struggling to conceive. Although it is improving, there is still a big taboo surrounding fertility and the online space gives people the opportunity to find the information, products and home testing they need in the comfort of their own home.”
Buckley continued: “Our aim is to become a one-stop destination to help people maximise their chances of getting pregnant. We want to raise awareness of infertility, eliminate the taboo, answer questions and enable people to share their stories.
“We are continually researching the market and using content and technology to explain the way certain products work. This is a work in progress but we believe the sky’s the limit. Ultimately we want to offer end-to-end solutions through the entire fertility journey.”