The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Feb 2022

Sēkr offers a mobile app that aggregates public campground data and crowdsourced updates so users can search for campsites by amenities, save favorites, and connect with other outdoor travelers. The app’s listings are enhanced by a team of ambassadors who verify locations, take photos, and supplement government and legacy databases. Sēkr has expanded from a niche van‑life product (launched as The Vanlife App in March 2018) to address broader camping audiences. It is working to digitize and aggregate reservable inventory from private lands to traditional campgrounds and to add more bookable listings to the platform. Today about 200 properties are bookable in the app, and the company reports more than 10,000 user sessions per week. Sēkr monetizes by taking a 5% fee from guests and a 5% fee from property owners on transactions. The company also runs community initiatives such as Project Respect Outdoors to promote inclusion in the outdoor industry.

Participated · Seed · Sep 2021

Lady Technologies' first product, kegg, is a wearable fertility tracker and pelvic floor trainer that analyzes vaginal data by measuring changes in cervical mucus. The company says its form factor enabled it to collect the largest dataset on cervical fluid changes, which it uses to power a proprietary vaginal health platform. kegg provides actionable insights for women on fertility and intimate health and to date has supported 50,000 women and families on their trying-to-conceive journeys. With new capital, the company plans to invest in its proprietary technology and research and development focused on cervical mucus and adjacent vaginal health markers. Lady Technologies intends to expand kegg's applications beyond trying-to-conceive to postpartum care, contraception (including non-hormonal approaches) and detection/support around infections. The company emphasizes a personalized, data-driven approach to surface previously overlooked vaginal health information. kegg develops a small egg-shaped intravaginal device called the kegg and a companion smartphone app to analyze cervical fluid and help users pinpoint their fertility window. The device has a "tail," vibrates to indicate test start and completion, and the reading takes about two minutes; results and cycle insights appear in the app where users can log notes and LH tests. Users are instructed to take the test once a day within the same two-hour window, except during their period or within eight hours of intercourse. The kegg device also functions as a kegel ball for pelvic floor exercises and helps users track their cycles. The company plans to use the new funding to expand services into perimenopause, menopause, postpartum care and infections, and to grow research collaborations and pilots; the article does not disclose revenue or user metrics. Lady Technologies’ product kegg is an egg-shaped, FDA-registered device that measures electrolyte/impedance changes in cervical fluid to detect the hormonal shift around ovulation and also functions as a connected Kegel trainer. The device pairs with a companion app, uploads anonymized/pseudonymized impedance readings to the cloud, and uses algorithms to provide personalized fertile-window predictions. Kegg records at least one fertile window per user to personalize predictions, and the company holds numerous patents on the device design and operation. The startup sold the device in a U.S. launch priced at $275 and built a roughly 2,000-strong community during its beta period. Lady Technologies has provided devices for an independent clinical study and says fertility instructors and doctors are using kegg for patient monitoring. The company plans international expansion (Singapore in late October, then Japan and Canada next year) and is exploring subscription services and expanded research/health-monitoring use cases.