Carrot Fertility, a San Francisco-based startup that makes it dramatically easier and more affordable for companies to offer egg freezing and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) as a workplace benefit, today announced it raised a $3.6 million seed round led by SoftTech Ventures, with participation from Maven Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Sound Ventures, Sherpa Ventures, Core VC, Founders Fund, Y Combinator, and leading angel investors. The Carrot platform provides employers with a customizable fertility benefit that fits their budget, while offering employees a better care experience - before, during and after treatments like basic testing, egg freezing, IVF and more.

"Modern companies know that fertility care is a core part of health programs at work," said Tammy Sun, co-founder and CEO of Carrot. "The old way of offering IVF benefits only for infertility treatment no longer fits the diverse ways people proactively manage fertility health through basic check-ups, egg freezing, IVF for LGBTQ family-building and more. Top companies across the U.S today trust Carrot to provide a best-in-class fertility program for their employees, helping reduce costs, improve health outcomes, and minimize stress and anxiety."

"The fertility market is experiencing transformational growth, driven by a confluence of factors including the rising infertility rates associated with the rising age of first time parents, increased demand from same-sex couples, and a growing wave of millennials seeking to preserve future fertility options through treatments like egg freezing," said Stephanie Palmeri, a partner as SoftTech VC who led Carrot's seed round. "While demand for fertility solutions is rising, the costs present a huge barrier for individuals and families. Traditional health insurance policies offer little to no relief, and millions of employees are increasingly looking to their employers to provide assistance for these fundamentally important services. I am excited to work with Carrot as they enable leading companies to offer modern benefits to employees and their families."

Traditional coverage products limit access to fertility care unless there has been a medical diagnosis of infertility. However, this out-of-date model excludes the fast-growing population of women who want to preserve fertility through egg freezing, lesbian and gay couples who use fertility treatments for family-building, and transgender people who seek to preserve future fertility options. And for the 1 out of 8 couples in the U.S who seek treatment for infertility, traditional coverage products often restrict access to critical procedures like genetic testing, forcing people to pay thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs. Carrot offers companies a modern approach to fertility benefits.

How Carrot Works:

Employees who want Carrot at work sign-up at www.get-carrot.com to get instructions and support for how to bring Carrot into their company, with the option to do so confidentially

HR leaders carve-out, customize and self-fund fertility care through Carrot for their employees through a direct reimbursement model, which means less hassle, increased price transparency, and more affordability for the company - and employees

By removing the infertility diagnosis requirement, companies bring benefits parity to their organizations, enabling a more diverse and inclusive group of employees to access the care they need -- when they need it

Employees use Carrot to text, video and voice chat with top fertility experts, access personalized recommendations, easy medication ordering, and more

The Carrot team includes alumni from Evernote, Zenefits, Google, Columbia, Harvard and Yale: Dr. Asima Ahmad (Medical), Maxwell Radomsky (Engineering), Arun Venkatesan (Design & Front End) and Juli Insinger (Growth).

Katie Evans-Reber, the Head of HR Essentials at Gusto, said: "In recruiting conversations, we increasingly get questions about whether we have fertility benefits, whether for egg freezing or IVF for LGBTQ individuals and couples. We know this is important to more and more employees we are trying to hire, including women - but not only them. Offering this benefit also reflects our values as a company. Our culture is one of close family ties."

About Carrot
Our mission is to enable fertility care for all. We partner with modern companies to help employees access the care they need, when they need it - without breaking the bank. Treatments include egg freezing, in vitro fertilization (IVF), LGBTQ family-building and more. Employees can use Carrot's software to personalize a fertility plan, chat with fertility experts, and access unique, user-friendly content. Visit us at get-carrot.com to learn more.