Conceivable Life Sciences

Picked by: Aike Ho, an investor and a partner at ACME

What the company does: Using robotics, computer vision, and other technology, Conceivable is automating the in-vitro-fertilization lab process to reduce errors and costs.

Funding raised: $20 million

Number of employees: 44

Why it's set to take off next year:

Women are having kids later in life, men are becoming more infertile, and depopulation is a real thing, Ho told BI.

Meanwhile, insurance doesn't cover most IVF procedures, so a typical round can cost families about $75,000, Joshua Abram, Conceivable's co-CEO, told BI in an email.

By automating the IVF lab, where eggs and sperm are combined to make embryos, Conceivable aims to reduce human errors and costs. Abram said the company expects to offer treatment to most people for $15,000 — and only if it works.

"Schoolteachers should be able to afford IVF," Ho said.

In 2023, Conceivable has already produced pregnancies in small studies, Abram said. Next year, the studies will be larger and involve hundreds of patients. He said the startup could launch commercially as early as December of next year in Mexico City.

— Blake Dodge