EmGenisys won the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s inaugural INNOVATE Pitch Tank Competition, earning the audience-selected top prize and a $10,000 award. The event brought together more than 240 clinicians, founders, and investors, giving the Texas-based startup a platform to present how its cattle-validated embryo-assessment technology may translate to human IVF.
The company had recently won another reproductive-health innovation contest, which placed Founder and CEO Cara Wells onstage at a major human IVF conference for the first time. That visibility led to new partnerships with leading specialists willing to provide the embryo video data needed for regulatory clearance in human fertility.
“The award got us on stage at a human IVF conference and connected us with key opinion leaders who are willing to help us gather the human IVF data we need to go to market,” Wells told bizblip. She said the response from reproductive professionals affirmed that insights from livestock research can meaningfully support embryo-selection decisions in humans, especially as the company works toward FDA review.
Cara Wells, EmGenisys CEO
EmGenisys analyzes short microscope-recorded embryo videos to help clinicians identify which embryos are most likely to result in pregnancy. Founded in 2019 and operating with a small hybrid team, the company serves cattle IVF labs globally and has established a European entity in Estonia as it expands into new markets.
The company has raised more than $1 million in grants and competition awards, including a $250,000 Bio Tools Innovator prize, and closed a $1.5 million seed round led by Grit Road Partners. EmGenisys has also applied for a €2.5 million European Innovation Council grant supporting its global rollout.
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