The Brazilian femtech Oya Care entered the market in 2021 as a virtual clinic for women’s preventive health, focused on fertile planning. The proposal, unprecedented in the country, secured the startup a Seed funding of BRL 16 million, in a round led by Susa Ventures and followed by the funds 1616 Ventures and Positive Ventures, in addition to existing investors such as Canary and IKJ Capital. Prior to Seed, Oya raised a pre-Seed of BRL 4 million to get the idea off the ground.
According to Stephanie Von Staa Toledo, founder and CEO at Oya, the first year of operation was important for the startup to validate its thesis. According to data found by the startup, in Brazil, 71% of women aged 30-34 want to know about their fertility levels, but only 8% have undergone some kind of evaluation. In addition, more and more women are postponing motherhood, but without having much information about their fertility and the possible consequences of this decision.
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It was to meet this demand that Oya developed three products: Fertility Discovery and Fertility Consulting, which, combined, offer a fertility test and a kind of “fertility plan”, in which a gynecologist evaluates the results and helps the patient understand and plan her fertile life.
The third product is SOS Oya, which offers emergency gynecological assistance to attend to the questions, complaints, and discomforts of women. Oya’s goal is to offer a more welcoming gynecological appointment experience.
The service offered by Oya is entirely virtual, with a team of 12 collaborators and six physicians who take care of the service users (who are called “oyanas”).
With the newly raised funds, Oya plans to invest in expanding the operation, including expanding networking with the medical community and health plans, which can indicate Oya as a channel for women’s health evaluation; and in developing new solutions.
Stephanie says Oya has come to fill a gap in medicine and access to health care for women through virtual, accessible, and unprejudiced care. “At the end of the day, we want to see more women and people with ovaries empowered to make the best decisions for their lives – backed by medicine and science,” she said.
