Virilitas Labs has raised more than £700,000 to develop a DIY sperm test that checks male fertility in 15 minutes.
The Norwich Research Park company secured a £465,000 grant alongside £251,000 raised from private investors.
Its rapid at-home test uses lateral flow technology to analyse biomarkers linked to fertility and reproductive health from a single semen sample.
The test and its companion app launched earlier this year and return results in 15 minutes without requiring a clinic visit.
The project was one of 36 selected from 654 applications for support through the Biomedical Catalyst programme.
Virilitas is a spinout from research conducted at the University of East Anglia by Professor Simone Immler and Dr Daniel Marcu.
Professor Immler said one in six couples experience fertility issues, with around 50 per cent attributable to the male partner.
“Male fertility and reproductive health have been ill-served till now,” she said.
“In recent years, on average, sperm count has halved due to the impacts of climate change, increased stress, chemical additives in food, obesity and unhealthy diets.
“Our proposition will hopefully start some serious dialogue on this issue and begin to provide people confronting infertility issues with clear guidance and measures of reproductive health that will help, support and signpost them towards resources that can make a difference.”
Dr Marcu said part of the reason men do not engage with fertility care is that there is no clear entry point designed for them.
“We’re building Virilitas to solve that,” he said.
“The combination of our app, home testing kit and tech platform is designed to take users from confusion to action and ultimately into the right clinical support.”
The Virilitas app provides personalised guidance based on users’ lifestyles and health information.
It also gives men access to a medically informed AI assistant trained on reproductive health guidelines.
The £465,000 grant was awarded by Innovate UK through its Biomedical Catalyst programme.
