An Austin, TX-based company is introducing an app today that incorporates Chinese medicine practices that are meant to help women get pregnant.
The company, called Conceivable, has raised $800,000 in seed funding to make the app available for consumer use. A user of the app answers questions about, among other things, any abnormalities in her menstrual cycle, her body temperature, and her eating habits. Conceivable then builds a program for the user to follow that its founders believe will help her get pregnant and make the pregnancy run more smoothly.
“We wanted to develop a program that could actually identify where the breakdowns in the progress are for each user, and use behavioral science to identify very small steps to make permanent lifestyle changes,” said co-founder and CEO Kirsten Karchmer.
Karchmer and co-founder Rob Krassowski built the company after spending years at The Texas Center for Reproductive Acupuncture, where practitioners use Chinese medicine-based acupuncture techniques on infertility. While working with patients at the center and elsewhere, Karchmer developed the algorithm for the Conceivable app based on information she would gather to make assessments on how to treat them.
Conceivable, which charges $199 per month for the treatment plan, expects most folks to spend about six months on the program; it would need about 2,000 users to sign up to be profitable, Karchmer said. The plans are intended to encourage positive health habits, from diet to stress reduction. It updates on a weekly basis.
About a third of the seed funding came from Karchmer’s former patients, with the rest being raised from Austin angel investors and former venture capitalists, she said. The company is considering other indications for the app, including one focused on men.
