The story of Dr Fertility sounds like a script to a Bridget Jones movie.
Dr Lucy Buckley and Kobi McCardle were two 30-something best friends living in an attic flat in Manchester when they identified a gap in the market for fertility support.
Both were single, career-focused women, and after seeing friends and family struggle to conceive, resolved to help people on their fertility journey.
One in seven couples in the UK are affected by infertility and the friends identified a need for a trusted one-stop shop for everything people might need throughout their fertility journey.
After meeting their husbands through internet dating and getting married within six months of each other, they had their first babies four weeks apart in 2017.
It was while they were on maternity leave that they decided to launch Dr Fertility.聽In between looking after their babies, the entrepreneurs would field customer services queries and聽pack as many parcels as possible into the pram and head to the local post office to send them to customers.
Investors loved their story and purpose as they raised 拢2.6 million in their first two funding rounds and helped countless people overcome their own infertility hurdles.
After receiving accreditation from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), Dr Fertility transitioned from an eCommerce business, offering products and expert educational content, to a digital healthcare business that provided earlier and easy access to expert fertility support.
The Dr Fertility platform allowed people to book an online consultation with a fertility doctor or nurse of their choice, conduct home diagnostic testing and access emotional support via coaching from qualified nurses.
Dr Fertility had been tipped for big things but last year the business quietly went into聽liquidation.聽Today McCardle is working as a fractional chief marketing officer, while Buckley is preparing to launch a new healthcare consultancy. Despite the challenges, the two remain best friends.
Buckley stated: 鈥淭he last few years have been very challenging for Kobi and I, but we鈥檝e come out the other side now.聽聽We hope our story will help other entrepreneurs聽who may be facing similar challenges.
鈥淒r Fertility was our 鈥榯hird child鈥�. It was heart-breaking to have to close the business.鈥�
McCardle added: 鈥淭he reality is that starting and scaling a startup is tough. In fact, research shows that only 40% of of high-growth potential companies which have raised equity finance go on to scale and exit within eight years.
鈥淭he other 60% either fail, are stagnant or yet to exit. That鈥檚 why investors of early stage businesses are often looking for 10x their investment due to the ratio of successful to unsuccessful investments.
鈥淟ucy and I learnt a lot from the experience, and it definitely showed us how resilient we are. We are now passionate about sharing this knowledge with other founders through our consultancy work.鈥�
Buckley continued: 鈥淭here鈥檚 no doubt the funding landscape changed after Covid and it became harder to raise money. The fact that a few high-profile digital health companies were struggling didn鈥檛 help with investor confidence in the sector either. There were a lot of people sitting on the fence.
鈥淥f course, with hindsight, there are things we鈥檇 do differently but I don鈥檛 see it as a failure.鈥�
Their story began when the two co-founders were sharing a flat in Manchester and lost count of the number of insensitive comments they received about their聽鈥榯icking biological clocks鈥�.
They also witnessed their friends and family feeling anxious and stressed when they did not conceive straight away.
Buckley said: 鈥淲e thought 鈥榓ctually, where do you go to find out more about fertility?鈥� and the seed for Dr Fertility was planted. With my background in healthcare and Kobi鈥檚 background in digital marketing and eCommerce, we believed we had the right combination of skills to make it a success.鈥�
The idea never went away, and they launched聽Dr Fertility in 2017 while on maternity leave with the aim of supporting people on their path to parenthood.
The idea quickly gained traction – reporting 270% growth in revenue – and in June 2019, Dr Fertility raised 拢900,000 from Praetura Ventures as part of a 拢1m seed round.
The money helped them grow their team and develop a digital health platform to offer more personalised healthcare.
In 2021 they raised a further 拢1.6m through Praetura and GMCA.
鈥淔or the first three years we had constant growth and excitement, followed by two years of what I now call the 鈥榤essy middle鈥�,鈥� explained McCardle at a TechBlast roundtable in 2022.
鈥淚 think business is like a game of snakes and ladders full of highs and lows. One day you鈥檙e like 鈥榶eah鈥� and the next day it鈥檚 鈥榥ooooo鈥�.鈥�
The 拢1.6m investment helped them transition into a聽digital heath business after receiving accreditation from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Buckley said: 鈥淲e were the first digital primary care provider for fertility to be registered with the Care Quality Commission and to be approved by the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications (ORCHA), providing external validation of our quality standards.”
Dr Fertility moved in offices in the Manchester鈥檚 Bonded Warehouse and its workforce peaked at 13 staff. In 2022 Dr Fertility embarked on their third fundraise and say the landscape had changed.
鈥淭he one thing you can never do in healthcare is cut corners when dealing with patients and we never did,鈥� recalled Buckley.
鈥淲e were looking to raise 拢1m in our third raise to scale and grow the business.
鈥淚 think a lot of people underestimated the impact of Covid. The funding landscape changed and then you had things like the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. It was harder.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to blame investors but we were lucky with ours. Praetura were brilliant and very supportive. We wouldn鈥檛 say a bad word about them.鈥�
The final straw came when an angel investor Dr Fertility had been talking to pulled out at the 11th听丑辞耻谤.
Buckley recalled: 鈥淵ou experience a mix of emotions. It was heart-breaking and we were exhausted.
鈥淭he sad reality is it didn鈥檛 work out but we have some incredible learnings along the way.
鈥淜obi and I remain best friends and we鈥檝e stuck together like glue.鈥�
Statistically only 2% of VC funding going to female founders but neither Buckley or McCardle blame this for why they couldn鈥檛 raise additional investment.
鈥淚鈥檓 passionate about helping women to raise funding,鈥� said McCardle. 鈥淚鈥檓 working as a fractional CMO but I鈥檓 also exploring way I can support female founders with raising investment as well.鈥�
In total Dr Fertility generated 拢2.5m in revenue during its lifespan, achieved a TrustPilot score of 4.8/5 and served 68,593 customers.
The only figure they don鈥檛 know is exactly how many babies were born as a result of Dr Fertility鈥�