We have all heard the story about how female egg cells decrease in quantity and quality from the age of 30 and how low birth rates are a consequence of women’s decision to prioritize career before family. What we almost never hear about is that sperm counts are dropping as well, that fertility clinics neglect men, and that the causes of male infertility are more crucial to the debate than we thought.
Mojo Fertility is an international startup dedicated to revolutionizing the fertility market and offer a better solution to the 90 million couples worldwide that face difficulties in conceiving. According to the company, male infertility is a factor in about 40% of all cases when couples struggle to conceive and at the same time only 6% of them go through successful treatments.
In order to change that the early stage company pursues a three-fold strategy: a 5-minute online fertility test for men (get-mojo.com), an AI semen-analysis device (mojo pro) and finally a close cooperation with fertility clinics to provide personalized treatment (mojo treatment). Mojo Fertility's approach is an answer to three problems that the fertility market is characterized by.
1. It takes two to tango
It goes without saying that successful fertilization requires both partners to be healthy. Societies however still construct fertility as a predominantly female concern while men’s reproductive health remains a stigmatized topic. By spreading awareness about male fertility, Mojo Fertility is contributing to a serious debate and questioning the close link between masculinity and fertility. The short, online test is a sort of qualitative assessment about how good the sperm quality of a user might be by analyzing the information given by him such as age, drinking behavior or number of kids in the family. Mojo quickie thereby acts as a more comfortable pre-stage to an actual semen analysis that can lower the threshold for men in making their first step towards being conscious about their reproductive health.
2. One size doesn’t fit all
On their journey, the team has come to realize that there is a huge lack of scientific research and data on male reproductive health. Also, the procedure in many of today’s fertility clinics is antiquated, meaning that semen analyses are rudimentary and result in guess work when it comes to suggesting a fertility treatment.
“Assisted reproductive technologies have become a go-to solution without full consideration of what might actually cause male infertility in the first place”, Mohamed, CEO of Mojo Fertility.
Mojo Fertility's approach on the contrary, is to forward patients to partnered clinics, where spermograms can be conducted with mojo pro, an AI device that is equipped with a smart microscope optimal for detecting sperm quantity and quality as precise as possible. In the end, patients are supposed to get personalized recommendations - not only based on their own data, but that of millions of other patients. The data pool is ultimately thought to enable new scientific discoveries around male fertility and add to creating new fertility treatments.
3. The fertility journey is difficult
Mojo Fertility wants to guide couples starting from their first doubts to finding out which treatment is the best for them. This holistic approach does not only facilitate the experience for the couples, it also enables cooperation on different fronts such as with clinics, doctors, scientist and other actors in the fertility market.
“We don’t want to replace doctors, we want to give them the scientific background they need to suggest appropriate treatments”, Fanny, Mojo Fertility co-founder and designer.
The team is also working on partnering with fem-tech companies that are specialized in female fertility.
If you’re curious about your sperm health, click here for the online screening. You can also follow Mojo Fertility on Twitter for updates on their startup and news around male fertility.
