A British Columbia-based entrepreneur has launched an online startup that sells at-home insemination kits.
Alongside partner Kristine Wilson, Mandy Potter spent a year developing a custom kit, including a special syringe that earned FDA approval.
Once the kit was ready, the pair launched Joey out of their base in Vancouver to market and sell the product.
The kit includes syringes, specimen cups, menstrual cups, ovulation strips, pregnancy strips, and instructions.
The strips promise 99% accuracy and are less wasteful than traditional plastic strips, according to the founders.
“All Joey Kit contents come tested, sterilized and securely packaged,” the website states. “They are made from medical grade materials and 100% safe to use.”
How did the startup come about?
“Joey was created directly from a need that we had,” the founders explain. “While researching ways for a queer couple to make a baby, we found that our options were minimal.”
Dismayed by expensive clinics and limited ICI options, Potter leaned on her experience founding prior companies and took the entrepreneurial route.
Joey sprang from specific needs within the gay community, though their kits can benefit anyone struggling to conceive. These people may include single people, people with fertility issues or diseases which cause painful sex, or simply “want to conceive outside of clinic hours in the comfort of their own home,” according to the founders.
“Joey can save people money and hours of time traveling to and waiting at clinics,” the startup offers. “Using Joey creates a much more comfortable atmosphere in your own home.”
Potter and Wilson battle-tested their own Joey product—and the result was Beau, a beautiful baby girl.
Joey data shows that 45% of people under 35 will conceive after three cycles; 65% of people conceive after six cycles; and 85% of people will conceive within the first year of monthly insemination.
However, given the nature of the business, the founders cannot guarantee anyone pregnancy.
“What we want to do is give people an extra option that’s affordable, that’s comfortable, that they can do in their home with their partner, by themselves, with a friend or however they want to do it,” Potter informed BCBusiness in August. “Every single day we’re coming across new customers who are using it for reasons we never even would have thought about.”
Potter—who previously founded cannabis startup Jane and online marketplace Cleanify—recommends trying Joey for a minimum of three to six months at three tries per ovulation.
A version of this article first appeared on Techcouver.com.
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