Egg and sperm health brand Ova has secured a $1 million pre-seed from Era VC, Ventures Together and Syndicate Room and angel investors including Gemma Bellman, former director at Glossier and the British Beauty Council; Lisa Gordon, chairperson at Cavendish Capital; Stratos Chatzigiannis, chief executive officer of Ila Apothecary, and more.
Ova, which is based in the U.K., currently offers four products, including Ova Her, a fertility and pregnancy support supplement that is the brand’s bestseller; Ova Him, a sperm support supplement that is the brand’s bestseller in-store; Ova Plus, a hormone support supplement, and Ova Omega, an omega-3 supplement formulated for reproductive health.
“Ova is tapping into a deeply underserved space in a truly differentiated manner,” said Claire Cherry, partner at Era VC. “We know fertility is no longer solely a women’s issue — it’s a team effort, and Ova is leading the charge with a standout brand and real science. We’re proud to back such an exceptional team.”
Ova, which launched seven months ago, was founded by Net-a-porter alums Danielle Fox-Thomas and Kat Lestage, who were both experiencing their own fertility challenges which ultimately led to them building Ova while they each were pregnant.
“It was quite the challenge, but we like a challenge,” said Fox-Thomas, who was previously a health and beauty editor. “I went through a round of IVF. Kat went through her own challenges, but was happily pregnant. Then I got pregnant quite quickly after my round, so we were essentially both pregnant as we were raising, giving birth and launching the brand.”
She added: “It just so happened [that] we created our own Ova babies, just to put the icing on the cake.”
Ova cofounders Danielle Fox-Thomas and Kat Lestage
Courtesy
According to Lestage, going through this experience while raising capital allowed them to find investors who were the perfect fit.
“I do think some people probably might be and maybe were a bit intimidated by the fact that we’re two women who are starting a business while at the same time growing and starting families,” said the former beauty and wellness buyer. “For us, building a brand that is made for people who are starting and growing their families, it makes the most sense for the people who are leading that business to be going through that themselves. We wanted investors who believed in that vision.”
Upon starting the brand, retailers were automatically interested given the opportunity within the category.
“Especially in the U.K., there was a lot of white space for there to be a brand that was speaking to a more modern consumer. Something as simple as our branding, is very straightforward. It is like, ‘This is fertility [and] pregnancy. This is advanced firm support. This is for your advanced hormonal support,’” Lestage said. “We’re not trying to be quiet. We’re not putting babies on boxes.…It’s something new and it’s fresh, and we’re talking to that modern consumer. That’s what buyers bought into quickly.”
Boots, in particular, brought on Ova before the brand had even turned on its direct-to-consumer shop. Now the brand is available in more than 900 doors with Boots, the largest pharmacy chain in the U.K., and Sainsbury’s, one of the largest grocery retailers in the U.K., and will be expanding in Ireland.
“What this raise has done is allowed us to support our retailers in not going out of stock. We’ve expanded with Boots, moved into Republic of Ireland. We’re going into more stores in Ireland in October,” Lestage said. “Our growth with Boots has been crazy, and so this raise has really allowed us to continue to fuel that growth.…In addition to that, which we’re very excited about, is we finally have been able to turn on paid ads for our DTC.”
Fox-Thomas added that they are also beginning to discuss future product development.
“We’re looking at PMS. We’re looking at how we can best support those coming off birth control, how we can best support those with symptoms of PCOS and more regularity of cycle, and then looking at hunkering down on those who are going through assisted reproductive technologies,” Fox-Thomas said. “We want to be known for reproductive health [and] fertility. We know this is not going away anytime soon. One in four of us will struggle or face challenges, but we want to lean to more positive, actionable products that really can help support.”
