Ava is a medical technology company that developed the Ava bracelet, a wearable device that functions as a fertility tracker.[1][2]

Ava (company)
Company typePrivate company
Headquarters
Key people
  • Lea Von Bidder (co-founder and President), Pascal Koenig (co-founder and CEO) and Peter Stein (co-founder)
Websiteavawomen.com

History

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The company was founded in Zürich, Switzerland by Lea Von Bidder, Pascal Koenig, Philipp Tholen, and Peter Stein.[3] In September 2015, the company took part in TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield.[4] In November 2015, Ava raised a $2.6 million funding round led by Swisscom and ZKB.[5] The company began shipping the Ava bracelet to customers in July 2016.[5][6] The company raised nearly $40 million in funding between 2017 and 2018.[7][4]

Technology

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The device is intended to allow wearers to estimate their fertile window by tracking their menstrual cycle and ovulation based on measurements of their skin temperature, heart rate, perfusion, breathing rate, and heart rate variability.[8] Data collected from the bracelet is displayed on an app, so that the wearer can track their fertility or monitor their health during pregnancy.[7][3] An independent study of the bracelet's validity found that it provided accurate assessments of sleep duration but that its estimates of other data such as heart rate were inaccurate in comparison to other monitoring methods such as actigraphy.[8]

References

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  1. ^ Hinchliffe, Emma (19 November 2016). "The next frontier in wearables is helping couples conceive". Mashable. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  2. ^ Morrissey, Janet (2018-08-27). "Women Struggling to Get Pregnant Turn to Fertility Apps". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  3. ^ a b "Ava Is A Bracelet That Aims To Predict The Most Likely Days For Women To Get Pregnant". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  4. ^ a b "Ava, the fertility wearable, raises $9.7M to help families conceive". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  5. ^ a b "Ava launches a wearable to help couples conceive". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  6. ^ Rhodes, Samantha. "Meet Ava, the wearable that helps couples get pregnant". CNET. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  7. ^ a b Raphael, Rina (2018-05-30). "Fertility tracker Ava just announced a significant round of funding". Fast Company. Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  8. ^ a b Nulty, Alison K.; Chen, Elizabeth; Thompson, Amanda L. (January 2022). "The Ava bracelet for collection of fertility and pregnancy data in free-living conditions: An exploratory validity and acceptability study". Digital Health. 8: 205520762210844. doi:10.1177/20552076221084461. ISSN 2055-2076. PMC 8918962.