Women today are waiting longer than ever to have children, according to a 2014 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A 2017 Healthline report reveals that 1 in 2 millennial men and women are postponing parenthood, while more older women—especially those between the ages of 40 and 44—are becoming mothers. But women’s fertility declines after age 35, and older women who do become pregnant face an increased risk of fetal chromosomal abnormalities and miscarriage.

Egg freezing offers a potential solution to these challenges, and we’re excited to announce that Maven has just published an in-depth report on the state of affairs of egg freezing, which sheds light on why so many women are freezing their eggs, why it’s inevitable that more companies will begin offering egg freezing benefits, and some of the ethical questions surrounding egg freezing.

For example: when companies like Apple and Facebook launched egg freezing benefits in 2014, questions were raised about whether doing so pressured female employees to prioritize work over starting families. But since then, multiple studies have shown that career planning is far from the primary reason why most women consider freezing their eggs. Instead, the main reason most women cite is simply that they haven’t yet found a suitable partner—and egg freezing offers them some relief from the pressure to rush into a relationship, or parenthood, prematurely.

But for many women, the egg freezing journey can be prohibitively difficult to navigate without guidance. While there are more provider options than ever to choose from, reliable data about these options is scarce, as the majority of women who have had their eggs frozen have not yet attempted to use them. And, since the younger a woman is when she freezes her eggs, the better, it’s important for women to be well informed about their own fertility long before deciding to embark on the procedure.

Download our report to find out why more and more companies are launching egg freezing benefits to keep up with the needs of today’s diverse workforce—and how providing support for each step of the journey can help women get the best possible results from these benefits, while also helping your company lower costs.

You can read the full report by going to the link here.

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Today, we’re announcing a $27 million Series B led by Sequoia Capital and Oak HC/FT to help hundreds of thousands more women and families get the healthcare they need.

In 1972, TIME ran a splashy cover featuring “The American Woman”. The special issue shows a silhouette of a female head overstuffed with baby toys, credit cards, and a button reading “Shirley Chisholm for President”. Forty-five years later, in 2017, TIME devoted six covers to women, including the “Person of the Year” award. But whereas the 1972 version was a bit reductive, the covers of 2017 were unapologetically real. Because what we started to talk about in 1972, and what is now at the center of our cultural dialogue, is that women’s issues affect our entire world — from the individual, to our families, our society, our government, and our economy.

But acknowledgement isn’t enough. Today, 43% of new moms still drop out of the workforce within the first year after having a child. This exacerbates the wage gap and the female leadership gap at big companies — and it is a problem that many American companies are finally starting to realize and address. When our very systems are the blockers of progress, real change requires rethinking and reshaping the systems from within. And doing this, critically, requires investment.

So here’s the good news: this is not an article pontificating on the inequities of dishwashing and childrearing. This is a fundraise announcement.

Maven, the women’s and family health company my team and I started nearly five years ago, focuses on changing the complex and entrenched healthcare system from within. Our mission is to provide women and new families support, both personal and professional, in ways we used to only imagine — including on-demand access to fertility experts, pregnancy and postpartum specialists, and dedicated back-to-work coaching that makes juggling a career and a growing family possible. In fact, Maven has empowered me throughout my own two pregnancies in the last two years and I couldn’t imagine juggling being CEO and a mother without this support. Today, we are proud to announce that Maven has raised $27 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital and Oak HC/FT that will enable us to reach hundreds of thousands more women and families.

We will use the capital today to double down on Maven’s Family Benefits platform, to support more women in the workforce, more women in leadership positions, more diverse families, and more confident working parents. Today we’re launching our latest feature, breastmilk shipping, which is an important component of our return-to-work program as it equips working parents to travel.

This investment will not only engender change — it is itself a sign of change. Jess Lee, who is leading the investment from Sequoia, is the firm’s first-ever female investment partner in the US. Oak, which is led by Annie Lamont, is the only female-led venture capital firm in healthcare — and Nancy Brown, a female partner who spent more than two decades at leading healthcare companies, is leading their investment. This is what happens when we create change from within — when women start to drive capital allocation decisions — which they didn’t in 1972, and are only starting to today.

The market is not just listening, but acting. We’ve grown 14x in the last 12 months and now serve some of the world’s largest multinationals. Employers are increasingly acknowledging that recovery from episiotomies, and problems like incontinence and depression, are the norm after childbirth, not the exception; that the emotional turmoil of IVF, adoption, miscarriage, and returning to work, or the insufficient parental leave for both genders, can have negative repercussions at work and at home for all parents. Further, we’re proud to support women and families across all genders, orientations, and a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, living everywhere from California to Alabama to the United Kingdom. We’ve helped more than 150,000 people get access to care and were used in 166 countries last year.

This isn’t only about gender equality. It’s about moving the largest industry in the U.S., healthcare, into a more efficient and humane system where all patients can get better and more democratized access to care, affordably. In an industry that desperately needs reform, focusing on the core patient — women — and the core experience of millennials starting families, is critical to fixing the systemic dysfunction.

I do not wear rose-colored glasses, but I do think that, in spite of the harsh realism of our time — and perhaps in part because of it — this is a moment where practical change is afoot. Part of this change starts with female investors having access to meaningful capital; it starts with innovators at every level of the healthcare system who have fought an uphill battle to get us to this inflection point; and it starts with more fundraise announcements like this one. This isn’t longing for a seat at the table. This is knocking it down and building a better one.

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Fast-growing digital health company partners with Sequoia and Oak HC/FT to expand access to its popular health services, including fertility, maternity and return-to-work care

NEW YORK -- September 26, 2018 -- Maven, a digital health company focused on bringing women and families better access to healthcare, today announced $27 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital and Oak HC/FT with participation from existing investors Spring Mountain Capital, 14W, and Female Founders Fund. The new round of financing brings the company’s total funding to $42 million and will help Maven enhance its flagship product, Maven’s Family Benefits platform, which supports working mothers and new parents with everything from fertility through return-to-work care, and is currently offered by employers like Snap, Cleary, Protective Life, and Bumble. Sequoia partner Jess Lee and Oak HC/FT partner Nancy Brown will join the Maven board.

The company also announced today that it has expanded its return-to-work care products with the introduction of a breastmilk shipping service. The new service, combined with the existing Maven healthcare platform, will provide more working mothers and parents with the support they need to return to work comfortably and successfully.  

“In a system that desperately needs reform, focusing on the core patient—women—and starting with the core experience of millennials starting families, is critical.” said Kate Ryder, CEO and founder of Maven. “This is the beginning of long-overdue change in our healthcare system, and in society at large. At Maven, we’re just getting started.”

More than 40 percent of American women who give birth leave the workforce - some by choice, but some by necessity due to the lack of adequate support from employers, health plans and healthcare providers. Even though women represent nearly half of the labor force in the U.S. and gender diverse companies outperform competition by 15 percent, less than a quarter of senior leadership is female and women make 80.5 percent of what their male counterparts are paid. The modern and evolving family is similarly left to fend for itself or else opt-out, leading to a less diverse workforce.

“There are so few companies out there tackling hard-to-solve women’s health challenges that are founded by women. Maven has done an amazing job creating a healthcare solution that helps give women the support they need at work,” said Jess Lee, partner at Sequoia. “I’m excited to collaborate with Kate and the Maven team to usher in an era of modern health services for today’s working families.”

Founded in 2014, Maven operates the largest digital women’s and family health provider network, with highly-vetted providers that range from OB-GYNs to women’s health physical therapists to career coaches, to give quick, on-demand access to healthcare wherever someone is, whenever they need it. Maven’s B2B offering for employers and health plans, Maven’s Family Benefits platform, modernizes family planning for millions of working women and families with high-touch, inclusive programs for everything from adoption to IVF to maternity care to tracks for dads.

Maven works with global companies that range in size from 200 to 200,000+ people, has grown 14x in the last 12 months, has delivered care to more than 150,000 patients, and was used in 166 countries in the last year. For practitioners, Maven provides the flexibility and modern tools they need to better support patients and clients, and deliver outstanding, low-friction care.

“In an economy where unemployment is low and competition for talent is fierce, companies can’t afford to lose experienced, accomplished women due to a lack of available healthcare options and services,” said Annie Lamont, co-founder and managing partner of Oak HC/FT. “Maven offers progressive and innovative companies the ability to provide women with the benefits they need to make starting a family and returning to work a viable option, thereby reducing one of the major sources of talent drain in the US economy.”

“Maven is offering services that are a win for working women, a win for their families, a win for employers and a win for the global economy,” said Nancy Brown, partner with Oak HC/FT. “By providing outstanding fertility, maternity and return-to-work support, Maven can help close the gap and encourage a more diverse workforce.”

About Maven  

Maven is the only virtual clinic dedicated to women’s and family health. Named one of Fast Company’s “10 Most Innovative Healthcare Companies in 2018,” Maven’s leading family benefits platform advances women in the workplace and makes it easier for parents to start and grow a family during a critical time in their careers. Maven’s platform gives on-demand access to best-in-class women’s and family health specialists, and makes it affordable and easy to get advice, diagnoses, and even prescriptions via video appointments, private messaging, and community-based forums. Maven operates both an on-demand consumer marketplace in addition to its family benefits platform, which offers programs around fertility, adoption, maternity, and return-to-work. Maven, founded in 2014 by Katherine Ryder, has raised more than $42m, and is backed by Sequoia Capital, Oak HC/FT, Spring Mountain Capital, 14W, 8VC, The Box Group, and Female Founders Fund, among others.

Contact: Cathy Corwin, InkHouse for Maven

Phone: 917-994-5992

Email: mavenclinic@inkhouse.com

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