Israel IVF startup looks to democratize infertility coverage in the United States

Daniella Gilboa, founder and CEO of AIVF, attends HIMSS23 in Chicago.

Photo: Susan Morse/HFN

The story of Daniella Gilboa founding AIVF is one of health equity. Five years in, the company of which Gilboa is CEO has become an example of how AI is changing healthcare.

The in-vitro fertilization company boasts success rates unheard of in the United States. The reason is money.

In Israel, women may try getting pregnant through IVF numerous times at no cost, Gilboa said. In the United States, the cost of one IVF treatment is an estimated $20,000. While insurance coverage is available, it is not universal. Only 15 states require private insurers to cover some fertility treatment, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Medicaid has no coverage for artificial insemination or in-vitro fertilization, KFF said.

The result is a gap in coverage for women without the insurance benefit or who cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket. 

"There are barriers to entry," Gilboa said. 

As the company looks to expand in the United States, Gilboa is talking with health plans about the cost of IVF treatment. She attended HIMSS23 in Chicago last month to raise awareness and to network. 

In the summer of 2022, AIVF raised $25 million in Series A funding and announced in October that it had acquired ART Compass, a company that makes lab-management software for in-vitro fertilization. The main product is a platform that uses artificial intelligence to assess embryo quality during IVF treatment. AIVF said at the time that the deal would build momentum in the U.S. market. 

The AI capability has taken the subjectivity out of IVF, Gilboa said in Chicago. It helps to answer that million dollar question, she said: "Which embryo will become a baby? If you put in AI to understand embryonic development, end of story; it's more accurate."

It is also allowing AIVF to do IVF at scale.

For 15 years, Gilboa has been an embryologist, working to unite egg and sperm to develop an embryo. 

"What I love about IVF, I understand it deeply," she said, but added she has not undergone IVF treatment. "I know I have the power of changing people's lives."

One in six suffer from infertility, she said. "The problem with IVF, we are trying to democratize IVF, provide IVF care to everyone and make it accessible."

In Israel, 5% of babies born are born through IVF, she said. That number is 2% in the United States.

"We improve success rates in 48% of women," Gilboa said. "In Israel, you know that at the end of the journey you'll most likely end up with a child." This could be through methods other than IVF, such as egg donation or surrogacy.

"Ninety-five percent of patients end up with a baby; 5% opt out," she said. "This is democratizing medicine."

Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org