Fertility funding soars as global birthrates fall

Venture capitalists made more deals in the sector in 2024 than in the past decade, with good and bad outcomes for patients.

- Emma Haslett

European investors are determined to find a solution to the thorny problem of declining global fertility rates.

New figures, compiled for The Observer by financial data company PitchBook, show European dealmaking in the fertility sector soared last year. Venture capitalists made 35 deals in Europe worth €475.62m (£409.49m) in 2024, the most in at least a decade.

The UK accounted for 11 of those deals - equivalent to €208m, almost four times higher than the value in 2023. Among those were Flo Health, a period and ovulation tracking app, which raised €184.35m in July, in a funding round that pushed its value over €1bn - giving it tech “unicorn” status.

Later stage private equity was quieter, with just five deals worth €4.29m - but that came after a bumper year in 2022, when 15 companies raised almost €4.7bn.