Ava Raises $30 Million for Fertility Tracking Wristband
*By Christian Smith*
Ava, the medtech company that makes wristbands for women tracking their fertility, announced Wednesday that it raised $30 million in Series B funding, money its co-founder said would be used to continue the company's research.
"Women's health and women's health research has been underfunded for the last decade," Lea von Bidder, Ava's co-founder, said in an interview with Cheddar. "We want to do a lot of research in different fields of women's health ー be it pregnancy monitoring, be it contraception, be it menopause ーand hope to give women insights about their body and health."
Ava conducts its research through clinical trials with the University Hospital of Zurich, where the company was founded in 2014.
Its wearable tracker is like a Fitbit for fertility, monitoring nine physiological metrics including heart and breathing rates, skin temperature, and heat loss to determine a woman's fertility cycle. Von Bidder said the company's research shows that the device is 89 percent accurate in predicting the 5.3 fertile days in a woman's cycle. In addition to the tracker, Ava also offers an app, which tracks a woman's health during her pregnancy.
So far, 10,000 babies have been born to mothers using the Ava tracker, the company announced on Wednesday.
Ava's founder said they want to offer contraception and family-planning products, too, but the company doesn't have a time frame for these types of products.
"Ava at this point is not a contraceptive yet," von Bidden said. "We are working really hard on making that happen."
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/fertility-tracking-company-ava-raises-30-million-in-series-b-funding-round).
Doug Clinton, Deepwater Asset Management managing partner, shares tips for investors looking to take advantage of the massive boom in artificial intelligence beyond Microsoft and Nvidia.
Jason Moser, analyst and adviser at the Motley Fool, shares thoughts on recent tech earnings, including what’s behind Google’s share price drop and why A.I. could be Microsoft’s ‘iPhone moment.’
CEOs of social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and more meet with lawmakers Wednesday about how they are protecting children from sexual exploitation.
San Francisco 49ers president Al Guido discusses what goes into preparing for Super Bowl LVIII, building a championship-ready team, and how Taylor Swift and streaming are both bringing new fans to the NFL.
A $1 billion loss from a six-week strike did not crash GM's net income last year, which instead rose 12% — and the automaker expects improvement in 2024, too.
Accrue CEO and founder Michael Hershfield explains why Americans' credit card delinquencies are on the rise, advice on what can help, and the key difference between Boomers and Gen Z when it comes to money.
Senior Economist at Morning Consult Kayla Bruun shares thoughts on what to expect from the Fed's January meeting and where monetary policy is headed, as well as how consumers are faring.
Former Medtronic CEO and author of 'True North' Bill George explains the steps Boeing leadership must take to regain client and consumer trust after 737 Max 9 production was stopped.