Turning 30 is scary, yet it marks a significant transition in any person’s life — from a more impulsive and reckless youth to a responsible adulthood. While for many it is a time of reflection, growth, and newfound maturity, for childhood friends Dipalie Bajaj and Nidhi Panchmal, turning 30 was a ticking clock, with family demanding they get married and have kids before it was too late.
The irony? They had spent years hearing stories of other women grappling with the same pressures but could hardly relate until they found themselves in those same shoes.
It was probably time for the friends to sit and have a chat, but little did they know that a general tête-à-tête between the two old friends would have a snowball effect so massive that, in just a few years, they would be playing a key role in addressing the complex, often unspoken drama around infertility in the country.
Years later, the duo of childhood friends are the cofounders of Arva Health, a Bengaluru-based femtech startup founded in May 2022. Currently, the fertility-care startup offers a range of services, including fertility assessments, education, advanced treatments, egg-freezing consultations, and PCOS care.
On the technological front, the company currently runs a website and an app, which helps users also gain access to live Q&As with experts, and 24/7 support from counsellors, doctors, and health coaches. Additionally, it assists with fertility treatments like egg freezing, IVF, and IUI.
Arva Health operates in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, as well as some remote areas of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The startup’s larger aim is to raise India’s awareness when it comes to fertility issues among men and women.
According to the cofounder duo, the startup’s revenues have seen a 680% rise since its inception, with a steady monthly growth of 38%. It has already helped over 2,000 women.
Arva Health — A Startup That Wasn’t On The Cards
Peeved by the family pressure to get married and tired of listening to how their body clocks are ticking, the childhood friends decided to venture out to understand the extent of the infertility problem they would have if they delayed getting married.
At the time, both of them were working professionals. While Bajaj was working as a UX designer, Panchmal was a practising CA.
With zilch knowledge in the medical field, both Bajaj and Panchmal started visiting IVF and gynaecology clinics to seek answers to their long list of queries related to infertility and slowing fertility clocks. During this time, they also got the opportunity to speak with several women. They found themselves in the midst of heartbreaking stories of women who wanted to start their families but couldn’t due to reasons unknown.
“From how much time one has before the body loses its fertility to why a couple is not getting pregnant, there are several questions that shroud individuals on their family way. What came as a shocker to us was that there were not many reliable places, and we couldn’t just sit around and do nothing about it,” Bajaj said, adding that thus began their mission to help women and couples with fertility problems, advanced treatments, and PCOS care.
“There was no initial plan to build Arva. We began Arva’s journey with a pilot in 2022 to validate the actual problems women were facing. We listened to women and their problems, and as we gathered information, we kept refining our approach, which led us to where we are now,” Bajaj said.
While the startup was founded in 2022, but it officially initiated operations in 2023 with a pilot project to build their presence on social media first, which helped them spark discussions around fertility.
The cofounders decided that the only way consumers can relate to the brand is by a founder-led approach, so they focussed on showing up personally, with all their content being delivered directly by either Bajaj or Panchmal.
The cofounders use social media as an educational tool to address various topics and struggles related to fertility. To this date, social media plays a crucial role for the brand, which currently has 15.4K followers on Instagram.
As per Panchmal, the strategy proved effective, as within the first month of launching their content, they went viral.
“The brand’s educational positioning and our personal involvement resonated with many, leading to millions of views on some of our videos. We spoke about fertility as a natural aspect of life rather than a disease or something inherently wrong, which contributed to the widespread engagement with our content,” the cofounder said.
From there, the cofounders transitioned to forming a medical panel, as neither had a medical background.
This panel, which was envisioned to focus on ensuring a holistic approach to fertility care, comprised gynaecologists, reproductive endocrinologists, fertility specialists, and a functional medicine doctor from India and abroad.
From there, it was pretty much a natural transition to Arva Health, which the cofounders started with the launch of a fertility test in January 2024. The next thing on the cards was to provide consultations, which started in March of the same year.
Based on customer feedback, the cofounders introduced additional services, including in-house fertility counsellors to guide and educate clients throughout their journey, expert consultations with fertility specialists, and fertility coaching for those trying to conceive naturally.
The startup has also established partnerships with select clinics for advanced treatments like egg freezing and IVF. Besides, it enjoys partnerships with a range of diagnostic centres, including Thyrocare, Redcliffe, Orange Health, Tata 1MG, and Healthians. The startup is accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL).
Opportunities & Challenges Ahead For Arva Health
While the startup’s biggest strength lies in its online-first approach, this also presents a big challenge. This is because certain services, like basic ultrasounds and egg freezing, require offline presence. Consequently, the startup plans to foster an omnichannel approach rather than remaining solely digital.
According to Bajaj, their business has predominantly been online for the past eight months, except when referring clients to partner clinics for fertility treatments.
“In the next phase of our journey, while we will maintain our online services, as they make fertility care more accessible to working women, we will also expand offline to enable more direct service delivery,” Bajaj said.
In addition, the cofounders said, the startup will expand its presence on the ground. Currently, the startup works with partner clinics in Bengaluru and Mumbai, but it plans to launch its own fertility centres this fiscal only.
“Besides this, we will be expanding into men’s vertical in FY25, so that it’s more about family building rather than just about women,” the cofounders said, adding that the startup will garner up to INR 5 Cr in FY25 revenues, which will be officially the first full financial year for the brand.
In India, the tide of IVF treatments is on the rise, and the market is projected to breach the $5 Bn mark by 2033. Supporting this growth is a growing middle class and rising disposable incomes.
Also, an increasing number of millennials today want to delay the pleasure of parenthood due to the rising cut throat in the job market, falling savings, and expensive healthcare and education. Amid the current scheme of things, startups like Arva offer options like egg freezing, which gives new-age couples the freedom to delay family planning by a few years.
However, high treatment costs remain a significant barrier, especially for couples in rural areas. More affordable options and wider insurance coverage are needed to make fertility care accessible. In addition, the industry faces complex regulatory challenges, particularly around the ethical aspects of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), requiring providers to balance international standards with local regulations.
Also, while awareness is increasing, the stigma surrounding infertility, particularly for men, continues to hinder timely treatment and affect the mental health of those undergoing care.
Therefore, the need of the hour is to normalise conversations around fertility. “We want fertility to be as normal as discussing a skincare routine, but there’s a lot to be done,” the cofounders concluded.
[Edited by Shishir Parasher]
