Described by CNN as the man “responsible for 350,000 pregnancies,” Paris Wallace certainly sounds like a busy fellow. But it’s probably not in the way you’d think after such an introduction. Wallace is the founder of Ovuline, a company that employs “data and technology to help couples understand their unique health and make beautiful babies,” and ultimately, “helping people build their families.” Notable for a number of phenomenal achievements, including the large number of successful pregnancies that have resulted from their technology, the Boston-based team is also majority-female, a rarity in the tech space.
Back in May, the company raised $3.2 million in a new funding round, thanks in large part to the establishment of a key partnership earlier this year with major health care insurance provider Blue Cross Blue Shield. The pilot program, first announced in February, served as a sort of matchmaking service between couples looking to conceive and insurers who could help in the process. Their flagship app, Ovia Fertility, “gets to know” its user’s cycle, tracking data “From periods to moods to symptoms” to alert women as to when they are most fertile.
In April, Wallace noted, “In general, insurers are really excited about engaging with all of their members, but especially with this population. Most have fantastic benefits for their pregnant members and those trying to conceive, and sometimes they don’t know the best way to communicate that with their members. The Ovia app is an ideal platform to deliver that benefit info in an incredibly personalized way in a platform members are already using daily.”
Since its 2012 launch, Ovuline has raised $7 million to fund its continued ventures in pregnancy and fertility tracking, and now, Wallace reports, “We now have a pregnancy reported every 45 seconds on our app … which is fantastic.” The other major app from Ovuline, Ovia Pregnancy, serves as its user’s “daily timeline of articles and personalized feedback on your pregnancy,” answering all women’s standard questions about the process, from what to expect to what to eat. Between the two apps, Wallace now reports a user base that numbers in the millions.
Ultimately, the Ovuline founder says, the real value-add of Ovuline comes in the treasure trove of information the app can provide. “The next blockbuster drug is going to be data,” he told CNN, and if he’s right, Ovuline could be breaking down new barriers when it comes to medicine in the 21st century.
