A reproductive health start-up run by one of Britain’s most prominent venture capitalists has swooped on one of its peers amid growing demand from large companies for the provision of fertility and other sexual health-related benefits to their workforces.
Sky News understands that Fertifa, which is run by Eileen Burbidge, one of Britain’s most prominent venture capitalists, has agreed a deal to buy Juniper, a two year-old London-based company which provides reproductive health insurance.
Sources said the deal – worth an undisclosed sum – would be announced publicly on Thursday.
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It will provide fresh evidence of the accelerating consolidation of an area of healthcare which has gained increasing prominence as part of companies’ employee benefits packages in recent years.
Fertifa counts Meta – the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – among its clients, along with other blue-chip businesses such as the private equity firm Hg Capital, H&M, Lululemon, MoFo, Space NK and Virgin Group.
The start-up raised £5m in funding from investors including Notion Capital, Triple Point Ventures and Speedinvest two years ago, following an initial pre-seed round led by Passion Capital.
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Fertifa is the exclusive provider of the insurer Aviva UK’s family planning and fertility benefit for many of its healthcare schemes.
The start-up’s offering is based on a per-employee, per-month pricing model, and offers reimbursement administration by charging a 5% fee on transaction volumes.
It has also broadened its services in recent years by adding men’s health, neurodiversity support and a payment plan allowing employees to avoid up-front costs.
Juniper, which was founded by Ambra Zhang and Max Bacon, was set up to address a gap in the private medical insurance (PMI) market by focusing on reproductive health coverage.
It also raised funding from external investors, including Insuretech Gateway and 2100.
The rapid growth of private fertility service providers has given rise to greater scrutiny of their practices, with the collapse of Apricity, one prominent company in the sector, at the end of last year leaving some IVF patients thousands of pounds out of pocket and asking questions about the unregulated nature of the industry.
At the time, a statement from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) said it could “only regulate UK licensed fertility clinics, which are the premises where treatments take place”.
“The decision to cease trading was taken by Apricity’s board,” it added.
“The HFEA is unable to help patients obtain a refund nor compensation.
“Patients can also contact the licenced clinic where any procedures, such as egg collection, were due to take place.
“We would expect Apricity to ensure that any eggs, sperm or embryos stored in the UK are looked after.”
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One market source said that Fertifa’s acquisition of Juniper would strengthen its position as an emerging leader in the sector.
Other corporate deals in the industry have included Nasdaq-listed Progyny’s purchase of Apryl, a Verlin-based fertility benefits platform, in June 2024.
Ms Burbidge and Juniper declined to comment on the deal on Wednesday ahead of a formal announcement.
