Impli: The Venture Leader Medtech developing a hormone monitoring implant for in vitro fertilisation

27.09.2024 10:15, Rita Longobardi

Meet Anna Luisa Schaffgotsch, Co-Founder of Impli. The Medtech startup is making fertility treatment more accessible, safer, and more successful with real-time hormone monitoring. In November, Anna Luisa and the other nine Swiss National Medtech Team members will fly to Boston on a business development and investor roadshow.

Name: Anna Luisa Schaffgotsch
Location: London/Lausanne
Nationality: German
Graduated from: Imperial College
Job title: CEO
Number of employees: 6
Money raised: USD 1.2M




Can you tell us who your product or solution helps, and how?
Impli Ceres is a device that monitors hormone levels in real-time, similar to glucose monitors. Unlike traditional methods that depend on intermittent blood draws, it provides continuous, detailed hormonal data. This is especially useful for clinicians working with IVF patients, who currently face frequent and inconvenient blood tests. By offering real-time monitoring, Impli Ceres reduces clinic visits and provides valuable insights to enhance treatment and outcomes.

What market are you addressing and what is the potential of your startup in that market?
Infertility is increasing, with 168 million affected globally, yet only 5 million can afford treatment due to funding, time, and convenience issues. Impli aims to address this by making IVF more convenient, safer, and successful.
Additionally, continuous hormone monitoring could speed up PCOS diagnosis (currently averaging 3 years) and enable precise menopause treatment, tapping into a significant market in women’s health.

How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup?
As female founders, we all had an experience with the impact of hormone imbalances on fertility issues. Finding a solution to counter this problem and enable better treatment for women was therefore at the core of our decision-making when we spun out the technology platform.

What do you expect from the Venture Leaders Medtech roadshow, and how will it help you achieve your vision?
We hope to expand our reach and network and enable us to find investors and strategic partners that can help us accelerate the growth and impact of our venture.
 
What are your team’s key achievements to date?
As a team, we have managed to raise a pre-seed round, build our prototype device, conclude a first trial in animals and onboard IVF clinics and strategic partners.  

What is the most challenging and rewarding aspect of being a founder?
The ability to deliver change and enable innovation to drive towards a better future. 

What is the most important lesson you have learned as a founder?
Making the most of every opportunity and every spark of momentum and not giving up keeps you going.

What is your favourite productivity hack/tool and why?
The early bird catches the worm – I try to work from 6:30-8:30 on things that require thinking time. 

What was your dream job when you were a child?
Being a doctor.