Tampa fertility benefits company poised for U.S. launch

A Tampa company that provide fertility benefits to couples trying to have a baby is projecting it will have $1.5 million in revenue in 2021.

IVF Options expects to sell more than 100 benefits packages, making an average of $1,500 on each package, said Lexie Magyar, co-founder and CEO, at Tampa Bay Wave’s TechWomen Rising Pitch Night.

IVF Options is one of 13 women-owned companies participating in the current Tampa Bay Wave TechWomen Rising accelerator cohort.

The company wants to make fertility treatments accessible and affordable to everyone who needs them, Magyar said.

“Having a baby is one of the most fundamental human needs that people have, yet one in eight couples needs fertility treatment in order to conceive,” she said.

The treatments are costly, averaging $50,000, and 74 percent of patients in the United States are paying for them on their own, without insurance coverage. There’s no guarantee a treatment will result in pregnancy, so many couples go through multiple rounds of treatment.

“While we believe that fertility care is essential, we understand that not all employers can cover the cost of treatment and that’s where we come in. We offer fertility benefits direct to employees at no cost to the employer,” Magyar said.

When an employer refers a worker to IVF Options, the patient is provided with a dedicated fertility advisor who can answer their questions and help them book treatments. The company offers discounts of 10 percent to 30 percent on treatments, medication, genetic testing and donor services, as well as loans to pay for the treatments.

“Providers such as clinics offer their services to us at a discounted level in order to get access to our pool of employees, and employees purchase our discounted packages because we provide rates that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to get outside of our services. We in turn charge a processing fee on all of those transactions,” Magyar said.

The company already has generated $300,000 in revenue prior to launching in the United States, said Magyar, who was the founder of IVF Options Australia. Ben McElhiney, who co-founded IVF Options with Magyar, is chief operating officer of the company. He previously was CEO of Village Fertility Pharmacy, with $265 million in annual revenue.

There’s a $5 billion addressable market for IVF Options services, and it’s growing at 4.5 percent a year. IVF Options has a commercial agreement with pharmaceutical giant Merck (NYSE: MRK) to provide discounted medication to fertility patients across the United States. It also has a commercial deal with a benefits provider to launch the IVF Options product offering to over 2 million Americans in 2021, Magyar said.