WoW Woman in FemTech I Anastasiia Timon, founder of Blooming Eve
Anastasiia Timon is the founder of Blooming Eve. Anastasiia was born in Georgia and spent most of her career working in finance in different roles, including as a VP of Finance for a European $1 billion private equity fund investing in high-growth technology companies. She moved to New York to get an MBA at Columbia Business School and transitioned to early-stage startups and entrepreneurship.
After getting her degree at Columbia, Anastasiia has served as a business development and strategy executive at SoftSmile, a health technology startup that leverages AI in orthodontic treatment planning. As one of the first business hires, she focused on building the go-to-market strategy from scratch, which has driven several million dollars in incremental revenue.
She also comes from a family of fertility doctors and operators, which ignited her passion for the fertility space. After researching clinics to do her own fertility preservation, she realized the lack of transparency and challenges with navigating fertility treatments in the US and founded Blooming Eve.
Anastasiia lives in Brooklyn with her fiance, who is also a founder. In her free time, she enjoys biking, yoga and is currently training for the NYC Marathon.
Blooming Eve is a pre-seed startup founded in 2022 by Anastasiia Timon and Anya Kern. It is a fertility marketplace that helps women and their partners find the most affordable and efficient fertility centers through a database of clinics across the US with information on pricing, clinical outcomes, and wait time. Blooming Eve is a part of Techstars Founders Catalyst Program.
Tell us a bit about your background and your projects so far.
I have been a business development and strategy executive at a health technology startup before starting Blooming Eve. I love healthcare because you can have a real impact on people’s lives. For example, with 1 in 5 couples suffering from infertility in the US, Blooming Eve’s mission to improve access to high-quality fertility treatments could really have a huge positive impact on millions of people.
How did you get into this industry? Has it been an easy industry to get into or have you had many challenges?
I have fertility doctors in my family who also own and operate fertility centers in Central Asia, so I wasn’t a total stranger to the field. After coming to the US, I’ve found that navigating healthcare in the US has been challenging from both a consumer and business perspective. One of the biggest challenges is that the industry is slow to adapt to technology, and many basic things that we are all used to (like online bookings) in other sectors do not exist here. But I see it as an opportunity to build great companies and bring change and improvement to patients and providers.
How long did it take you to be where you are now? What was the biggest obstacle?
We started ten months ago, focusing exclusively on egg freezing. The biggest challenge was educating the market. On top of that, once we helped women understand the procedure, the costs were still prohibitively expensive. We got a lot of valuable insights and built relationships with clinics, ultimately expanding to IVF and our current model of providing a fertility services marketplace.
What are the challenges of being in the industry you are in?
Fertility is a very competitive space, with many startups doing different things. It is important to know where you stand and how you are different.
What are your biggest achievements to date?
I am very proud of the momentum we built and the progress we have made. We signed 7% of fertility centers in the US and were selected as one of 30 female founders in the US to join Techstars Founder Catalyst Program.
What are the projects you are currently working on?
We are launching our database of fertility centers in the US with transparent prices, clinical outcomes, and wait times in a few weeks. We are very excited to bring this useful tool to more patients.
Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why?
I am a huge feminist and believe we should support and help each other grow. I love seeing the sisterhood and community that is growing around this movement.
What will be the key trends in your industry in the next five years and where do you see them heading?
Fertility preservation will take off and become a standard preventive procedure. Also, we will see a broader application of AI and robotics in fertility with fully automated labs, AI-generated treatment plans, and customer support.
What is the most important piece of advice you could give to anyone who wants to start a career in this industry?
My advice for anyone who wants to break into healthcare is to be patient, consistent and don’t give up. It is a challenging but very rewarding path with many problems to solve.
Who are three inspirational women in your respective industry you admire?
I truly admire Kate Ryder, CEO and founder of Maven, a brilliant founder with tremendous humility and intelligence and one of the most inspiring examples of entrepreneurial success.
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This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder, and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship, and diversity. Follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic and read her stories for Forbes here.