BAIBYS raises $4.5M Series A for AI-based system that selects ideal sperm for fertility treatments
Japanese pharmaceutical giant ROHTO joined the Israeli startup’s round as it prepares to begin sales this year. BAIBYS’ system examines sperm samples and automatically selects ideal sperm according to WHO criteria, both in terms of their motility and morphology.
Israeli startup BAIBYS, which has developed an autonomous system for selecting ideal sperm for fertility treatments, aiming to improve treatment success rates and reduce birth defects, has announced the completion of its $4.5 million Series A funding round, led by Firstime Ventures, with participation from Japanese pharmaceutical giant ROHTO. To date, BAIBYS has secured $6.5 million in total funding after previously raising $2 million in a Seed round from various private investors, predominantly fertility doctors owning clinics in Israel and abroad.
Full list of Israeli high-tech funding rounds in 2024
BAIBYS was founded in 2020 by Dr. Nino Guy Cassuto, a Jewish-French doctor specializing in male fertility, and Gal Golov, an engineer expert in electro-optics who personally experienced the multifaceted difficulties inherent in repeated failed fertility treatments. Gal Golov and Dr. Yaron Silberman serve as co-CEOs of the company, which currently employs eight full-time workers at its offices in Ramat Hahayal, Tel Aviv, as well as several part-time employees and expert consultants in their respective fields.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in a man with healthy sperm, 96% of sperm cells are abnormal. Nevertheless, in current fertility treatments, the sperm used for fertilization are chosen from millions almost arbitrarily, without the ability to check for morphological anomalies. BAIBYS has developed an AI-based robotic system for examining sperm samples and automatically selecting ideal sperm according to WHO criteria, both in terms of their motility and morphology.
The use of carefully selected sperm by experts - through a long and meticulous process - has demonstrated improved success rates and a 45% reduction in birth defects. However, this process is not feasible for widespread clinical adoption due to its time-consuming nature, subjectivity, the requirement for extensive training, and consequently high cost. With BAIBYS’ system, the user only needs to place a cartridge containing the sperm sample into the system, specify the desired number of sperm cells to be extracted, and press 'Start.' The system then operates autonomously for several minutes until the selection process is complete.
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“The new partnership, which is not only financial, with a significant corporation like RHOTO opens up enormous possibilities for us in terms of marketing, R&D, and other areas,” said Dr. Yaron Silberman, CEO of BAIBYS. “We will make every effort to leverage this partnership to bring innovative products to market for the benefit of the many couples (1 in 6) suffering from infertility. In the coming months, we will pass significant milestones, with the crowning achievement being the start of sales in Europe later this year, assisted by our seed round investors and their network. We are proud to show the world that an innovative Israeli technology can help couples around the world to have healthy babies, during this challenging period.”
The fertility treatment market was valued at $54.1 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach $101.8 billion by 2028, with an annual growth rate of about 14%.
ROHTO was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Osaka, Japan. The company manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, and nutritional supplements globally.
Keren Kopilov, Partner and Head of Digital Health at Firstime Ventures: “BAIBYS is accomplishing something unprecedented in the fertility sector: fully automating a procedure that has always been manual, time-consuming, and expensive. By transforming it into a fast and affordable process, they're making advanced fertility treatments accessible to countless families worldwide.”
