Cofertility, a fertility-focused startup founded by former Uber executive Lauren Makler and health tech investor Halle Tecco, has announced a $7.25 million Series A round led by Next Ventures and Offline Ventures. Other participants include Initialized Capital, Gaingels, Arkitekt Ventures, and How Women Invest. This brings the company's total funding to $16 million.
The company is building what it calls a "human-first" ecosystem—one that challenges the outdated structures of the fertility industry. Their flagship program, Split, offers women the option to freeze their eggs at no personal cost in exchange for donating half to intended parents who are unable to conceive.
The program is designed to tackle two longstanding issues: the prohibitively high cost of egg freezing, which can range from $10,000 to $15,000 per cycle, and the ethical concerns around how donors are often selected and compensated.
Makler’s motivation was deeply personal. In 2018, she faced a rare medical condition that jeopardized her ability to have children. That experience exposed her to the complex and often uncomfortable realities of egg donation—from pricing disparities based on ethnicity or education to the emotional toll it can take on both donors and recipients.
“It felt sort of like surge pricing for egg donors, which felt icky to me,” Makler said, referencing Uber’s controversial peak pricing model. Her vision became clear: democratize access to fertility care and remove the stigma around egg donation.
Although egg-sharing is not a novel concept, Cofertility is the first to scale it in a way that centers on shared benefit and consent. At any given time, the company has hundreds of donors in its network, which far exceeds the limited options most fertility clinics offer.
Unlike traditional models where egg donors receive direct financial compensation, Cofertility’s donors receive a different kind of value—long-term reproductive freedom. In the Split program, intended parents pay for the donor’s retrieval process and Cofertility’s coordination fee, but not the donor herself.
This removes the financial transaction between donor and recipient, a structure Makler believes contributes to the emotional and ethical complexities of the current system. The result is a more accessible and humanized path to parenthood.
Donors in the program come from a wide range of backgrounds, with roughly 55% holding graduate degrees, offering diverse options for intended parents seeking a match.
With the new funding, Cofertility plans to:
Makler emphasizes that fertility journeys are often emotional, complex, and expensive. Cofertility wants to make them less so—while also ensuring that people from all backgrounds can participate equally.
Backed by mission-driven investors, Cofertility is betting on a future where fertility options are equitable, transparent, and widely accessible. Their approach is resonating in an industry long dominated by opaque pricing and unequal access.
“There is zero shame in however you become a parent,” Makler notes. “Doing that with the help of a donor who’s also preserving her fertility is a beautiful, empowering path.”
With their eyes on technological innovation and cultural change, Cofertility is positioning itself as more than a service—it’s a movement to redefine the norms of family building.
