A Fresh Piece of Backing for One Unprecedented Ideology to Improve Reproductive Care

Gameto, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing stem cell-derived therapies for reproductive health, has successfully raised a sum of $44 million in Series C financing.

 Led by Overwater Ventures, this round saw further participation from the likes of Insight Partners, RA Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, BOLD Capital Partners, Future Ventures, Ingeborg Investments, Arcadia Investment Partners, PAGS Group, Pontiva Healthcare Partners, Portfolia, and other investors. 

According to certain reports, the stated piece of funding makes it possible for Gameto to complete the ongoing Phase 3 trial for its lead program, Fertilo before filing for regulatory approvals globally.

For better understanding, Fertilo is already cleared to run commercial operations in many ex-U.S. jurisdictions clinics. In fact, it is already being used in clinics all across Peru, Mexico and Australia, with clearances in Japan, India, Singapore, Guatemala, Argentina, Dominican Republic, and Paraguay duly achieved. Not just that, over 20 pregnancies have been recorded so far that were a by-product of this program.

“This is a defining moment for Gameto and for our broader mission of advancing women’s and family health,” said Dr. Dina Radenkovic Turner, CEO and co-founder at Gameto. “We are now positioned to complete our robust Phase 3 trial of Fertilo and evaluate its safety and efficacy across leading U.S. study sites. Fertilo In Vitro Research Study and Trial (FIRST)1 is the first randomized, controlled, double-blind trial to evaluate the maturation of eggs outside the body in the U.S., despite this technique’s decades of clinical use, as well as the first to explore stem cell technology in IVF.”

Talk about the same on a slightly deeper level, Fertilo arrives on the scene bearing an ability to change how eggs mature for IVF. You see, the program leverages engineered ovarian support cells (OSCs) derived from iPSCs to mature eggs outside the body, and therefore, reduce the standard ovarian stimulation protocol from two weeks of daily hormone injections to 2-3 days.

Another detail worth a mention here is rooted in the fact that, apart from its first-in-class status for infertility, Fertilo is also the first induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived therapy to reach late-stage clinical development in the United States,

As for the Fertilo Phase 3 trial, it is understood to be the first ever randomized, controlled, double-blind study focused on evaluating ex vivo egg maturation. Once up and running, this particular effort will enroll patients at up to 20 U.S. sites, including Shady Grove Fertility, part of US Fertility and the largest fertility clinic chain in the country. 

It will expand, over time, to other leading centers, such as Columbia University and Prelude Fertility, one of the nation’s largest clinic networks.

Gameto will have an interim readout from the given trial in late 2026.

“We believe Gameto has the potential to drive the biggest transformation in women’s health since the birth control pill,” said Kristina Simmons, Founder and Managing Partner at Overwater Ventures. “We have yet to see another company with the rare combination of determination, breakthrough science, and the potential to create a strong consumer brand in biotech. At Overwater, we invest in category-defining technology, and few areas of healthcare are more overdue for reinvention than female biology itself. The implications and impact go far beyond reproduction. This is why we’ve written our largest check to date.”

Looking past Fertilo, the company is also rigorously working on therapies for menopause through its Ameno program, which recently received funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The stated program includes both an implantable cell therapy designed to restore ovarian hormone production, along with a next-generation vaginal ring which facilitates cyclical hormone release patterns that more closely approximate natural physiology.

More on the vaginal ring would reveal how Gameto plans to bring it to Phase 1 clinical trials in the near term.

“As someone who has built fertility clinic networks around the world, I know firsthand how urgently patients and physicians need better tools,” said Martin Varsavsky, co-founder & Chairman of Gameto and founder of Inception Prelude, the largest fertility clinic chain in North America (U.S. and Canada). “Fertilo has the potential to transform IVF, making it faster, safer, and more accessible to patients.”