Startup Case Study: Jack Fertility

Founded as a result of the lack of discreet fertility test options for men, startup Jack Fertility has created the first post-able sperm test kit in the UK, providing a convenient solution for men who would like to get tested and receive their results from the comfort of their own home, affordably. 

CEO of Jack Fertility, Lily Elsner, brings a wealth of experience within medical sciences, law and financial services to her startup, not to mention an MBA degree from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford during which she met her co-founder, Nick Shipley. Having encountered problems himself when securing an appointment to get tested in person, Nick's first-hand experience served as an inspiration when starting Jack Fertility. 

After conducting initial market research, the team took part in incubator programmes, leveraged the ecosystem of Oxford, and won grants like the Innovate UK grant to take the first steps towards commercialising their idea. During the onset of the project, they also connected with Oxford-based scientists in order to develop the testing technology at state-of-the-art labs within the University. 

“It was an amazing experience to leverage our connections to communities and our network to build something out of basically nothing." - Lily Elsner

Fertility testing at clinics and at-home test kits have both existed for a long time now, but Jack Fertility is the first to provide clinical-level test results and professional feedback delivered via the company’s mobile app, allowing users to view results from the comfort of their own home. Though existing technologies provide competition as substitutes, Jack Fertility created a market for post-able sperm testing which preserves the quality of the sample for up to five days, which is evidently a unique value proposition. 

Despite the ground-breaking solution provided by Jack Fertility, Lily has found fundraising to be the biggest challenge so far. Navigating the direct consumer healthcare market has been quite tough for the team, due to the bias in the UK for B2B (Business to Business) models. In order to raise capital, they have had to challenge investors’ perceptions of the industry, proving that “simple” ideas can be just as disruptive as new deep tech solutions, especially in a customer-facing market.  

Despite these challenges, Jack Fertility still managed to raise a pre-seed round from the Oxford Seed Fund and the Moonstone Fund. They also received angel investment from an Italian investor and the Founders Factory, which helped them develop their product and conduct the initial tests. Developing strategic partnerships has also helped in shaping the trajectory of the business and helping to get Jack Fertility to get off the ground, the biggest being Reckitt who have also invested in the business through their accelerator programme. 

Regarding future plans, Jack Fertility is currently raising capital in order to take their product to the market while focusing on applying for IP protection. With declining fertility rates worldwide, Jack Fertility plans to conduct research and development, and raise awareness globally to address this growing problem. As a first-time entrepreneur, Lily has learnt that being an innovator is a challenging task noting that 'while everyone talks about innovation, the second you actually do something innovative, people get scared because it’s risky.'  This hasn't stopped them however! The Jack Fertility the team were keen to take the risks and managed to find investors and partners whose visions and goals aligned with theirs. 

For the entrepreneurs of the future, Lily recommends diving into the resources of the British Library to find information on their fields of interest. She also suggests analysing their ideas thoroughly to figure out whether they are actually traditional business ventures or not. 

“My biggest piece advice is to just start, don’t be afraid to make mistakes, and take the feedback that works for you.”