After A 6-Figure Fertility Journey, This Founder Built An IVF Startup With ‘Outcome Protection’

1966woodenghost May 20, 2026 0

Five cycles, three clinics, two countries and a six-figure financial toll spanning about four years.

When Nader AlSalim and his wife were navigating the complex world of fertility treatment, the process was marked by stress and financial strain. But after finally achieving a successful outcome, AlSalim recognized how different his experience was from many others in his position.

Despite the ordeal, he noted, having a child afterward “is much better than a load of people who don’t have anything to show for it.”

The experience sparked a business idea to help others in the same situation his wife and he were in. “My son was 1 week old,” he said, recalling the exact moment the concept took hold.

Nader AlSalim, founder of Gaia. (Courtesy photo)

AlSalim officially registered the company name, Gaia, in 2019, but the business’ true inception came later, as the founder refined the idea and sought investors.

Gaia is working on building what AlSalim believes is a fundamentally new category in the $39 billion fertility market. The company uses artificial intelligence and machine learning — trained on millions of anonymized historical data points and fertility outcomes — to better understand risk and probability for fertility treatment.

The platform analyzes variables such as age, hormone levels, ovarian response, treatment protocols, embryo development and clinical outcomes to direct patients to “optimal” clinics based on their data profiles, and to generate personalized forecasts around fertility success. It also uses AI and machine learning to underwrite personalized outcome-based “flexible” financing plans for IVF, egg freezing and embryo transfer procedures.

“We tell you where to go, we protect your path, we finance your treatment, we support you,” AlSalim said in an interview with Crunchbase News. “No one else today bundles care, capital and financial protection into a single product.”

And today, the New York-based startup — led by AlSalim as its sole founder — tells Crunchbase News exclusively that it has secured a $100 million debt facility from Viola Credit to scale its operations across the United States.

The credit facility follows a $14 million Series A round raised in January 2025, led by Valar Ventures, that brought Gaia’s total equity funding to $37 million across three rounds. Other backers include Atomico and Kindred Capital.

Fertility remains a relatively niche area for healthcare startup investment. Last year, venture investors put $194.8 million toward startups in Crunchbase’s fertility categories. Since the peak year of 2021, when $229.6 million went to fertility-related startups globally, annual investment in the sector has ranged between about $100 million and roughly $200 million, Crunchbase data shows.

Treatment with ‘outcome protections built in’

Today, the fertility industry operates almost entirely on a “fee-for-service” model. Patients pay thousands of dollars per individual procedure, regardless of whether that procedure actually results in a baby. If a cycle fails, the patient is left with heartbreak and a depleted bank account.

Gaia flips this dynamic on its head by pricing the probability of success rather than the number of procedures, its founder said.

“We are not just a financing company,” AlSalim told Crunchbase News. “We use data in order to create unique plans that are individualized with outcome protections built in.”

For an IVF cycle, which has a nationwide median cost of $22,000, Gaia says it offers complete predictability. If a member’s first IVF cycle fails, Gaia covers the next cycle at no extra cost. For embryo transfers, the plan includes unlimited transfers until a live birth is achieved.

The model works across other endpoints, too. For example, if a 30-year-old woman wants to freeze her eggs, Gaia uses its predictive engine to guarantee a target number of retrieved eggs based on her specific biomarkers. If she does not hit that number in the first round, Gaia funds a second cycle at no extra cost. Patients can choose to pay the fixed cost upfront or use Gaia’s financing to spread the cost over five years with monthly payments.

Closed-loop model

By owning the data and the risk from initial consultation to live birth, Gaia aims to build a closed-loop data asset that it believes will serve as a massive competitive moat.

Its model is resonating. Over the past 15 to 16 months, Gaia has experienced a significant growth inflection, according to AlSalim. The company has surpassed 1,100 memberships, with over 1,000 active members in the U.S., and has partnered with 200 clinic locations across 40 states.

The founder declined to provide hard revenue figures when asked about growth, saying that the company is “now developing a baby every 18 hours” while maintaining a Net Promoter Score of 85, which is considered “exceptional” in the healthcare industry by Bain & Co., creator of the customer loyalty benchmark.

Building a village

To sustain this velocity, Gaia has expanded its distribution channels beyond direct-to-consumer marketing to include local partnerships with acupuncturists and pharmaceutical companies, as well as direct clinic integrations.

Last year, the company launched an enterprise benefit product, marketing and selling directly to employers who want to offer comprehensive, risk-insulated fertility coverage to their workforce.

The corporate product has scaled rapidly, said AlSalim. Gaia’s enterprise client roster spans diverse sectors — from tech professionals in Silicon Valley to blue-collar manufacturing workers in Denver.

Michael Chen, managing director and head of U.S. Investments at Viola Credit, said his firm was drawn to Gaia because it believes the startup is addressing “a deeply important and underserved problem” with a model that is “both commercially compelling and mission-driven.”

Chen believes that Gaia stands out also because it is not “simply a financing product.”

Its approach, he said, “aligns incentives across patients, clinics, and financing in a way that feels genuinely differentiated,” he wrote via e-mail, “and we believe it can meaningfully improve access to fertility care.”