Time for IPO? Kindbody Founder Gina Bartasi returns as CEO
The leading US national fertility clinic network and global family-building benefits provider has been a standout success in reproductive health
Kindbody founder and executive chair Gina Bartasi is to return to the company as CEO during a time of ‘unprecedented growth.’
The leading US national fertility clinic network and global family-building benefits provider for employers has been a standout success in reproductive health since it was founded in 2018. It now covers 3.1 million lives through employer benefits and is profitable and on track to deliver revenues of up to $250m in 2024.
Rumours continue that the company is now preparing for IPO. Bartasi indicated as early as 2022 that the company planned to go public. That’s not happened yet - challenging market conditions have seen an overall downturn in IPOs, although there is some cautious optimism that this is beginning to change.
Bartasi succeeds Annbeth Eschbach after months of succession planning, partnering to ensure the team and business continues on its remarkable growth and profitability. Eschbach will continue her support as an Operating Partner in the coming months. Kindbody also announced that Gina Bruzzichesi, who joined the Company earlier this year as Chief Operating Officer, has been promoted to President, and Haleigh Tebben, has been promoted from Chief Revenue Officer to Chief Commercial Officer.
"I'm incredibly proud of our world class team and the hard work and enthusiasm they've shown to build something industry leading and game changing. There's more work to do and we're eager to continue to lead the way. Our team and their dedication is inspiring to any leader who wants to do more, so I'm honored to return," said Kindbody's Founder and Chair and incoming CEO Gina Bartasi.
"Our mission, since inception, has been to prioritise patient care by reducing the friction and fragmentation in healthcare. In the last several years, we've launched Kindlabs, our in-house PGT-A business, Kind360, our holistic women's healthcare services treating mental healthcare and nutrition, KindEOS, our embryo, oocyte and surrogacy agency, KindRx, Kinddoula and Kindbaby".
Kindbody’s success story - and challenges
Kindbody is the largest women-founded, women-led fertility company providing family-building and women's healthcare benefits to 121 employers covering more than 3.1M lives.
The company provides women's healthcare from menarche to menopause both virtually and in-clinic. It saves employers 25%-30% through direct contracting, and currently services all 50 states and 108 countries outside the U.S. through a network of 35 owned and operated signature clinics.
Kindbody's model is highly differentiated in that it is the only family-building benefits provider for employers that owns and operates fertility clinics. As the direct provider of care, Kindbody is uniquely positioned to decrease cost, improve the patient experience, and deliver better health outcomes.
However, the last few years have not been without challenges. Last year a Bloomberg investigation reported serious issues, high running costs and losses of $7million on average a month.
Yet turnaround has happened with high revenue targets for this year and confirmation of profitability.
Looking ahead, Kindbody has indicated that it is also continuing its focus on tech-enabled fertility support. It is working on several AI products including: a more personalised, standardised decision-making tool allowing for more efficiency for the provider; an improved prognosis tool so the patient knows what to expect and predicts their likelihood of success; and AI in the lab to better predict which embryo is best to transfer and which egg is best to fertilize.
This follows existing investment in technology. From its founding, Bartasi believed healthcare couldn't truly be changed without first investing in technology, so its initial seed capital acquired the foundational code for ‘KindEMR’ as a way to replace anecdotal decision-making with predictive technology.
Kindbody's proprietary technology is centered on its HIPAA compliant electronic medical record (KindEMR) for increased standardisation of care, offering online scheduling for virtual and in-person appointments and an intuitive patient portal.
The KindEMR supports the full spectrum of reproductive health and family-building care including both female and male fertility, fertility preservation, genetic testing, in vitro fertilization (IVF), donor and surrogacy services, and adoption. Additionally, Kindbody has invested heavily to improve artificial intelligence (AI) in fertility treatment.