Californian femtech company Lady Technologies has officially launched its FDA-registered Kegg, a two-in-one device that combines smart fertility tracking with pelvic floor exercising.

Following a successful beta launch and Indiegogo campaign that reached its goal in 36 hours, Kegg has also announced a $1.5m seed round.

Kegg uses impedance sensing technology to detect changes in cervical fluid, which are then analysed in the cloud with results delivered to the user’s smartphone. The device specifically senses changes in electrolyte levels to detect the hormonal switch from oestrogen to progesterone that accompanies a woman’s fertile window and ovulation.

“We have created the first, easy to use modern medical device to help women manage their fertility with actionable data,” said CEO Kristina Cahojova. “Cervical fluid is a standard for determining women’s conception probabilities on a daily basis and Kegg is the most convenient way to measure it. In future, we want to look at other use cases that include infections, fertility tracking during postpartum and perimenopause. The nature of cervical fluid had previously made it very expensive to study on a large scale. In the future we aim to help the research to answer some very important questions such as what can positively impact the quality of fertile cervical fluid.”

Kegg is made with medical-grade silicone and gold plated, stainless steel sensors and only needs to be inserted for two minutes a day. Before each test, women can also opt to do Kegels to exercise their pelvic floor muscles.

Kegg communicates wirelessly through a phone’s Bluetooth connection. The antenna is placed in the tail, safely keeping it outside the body. Data are processed through personalised algorithms allowing women to understand their fertile window visually on the company’s free mobile app.

“One of my proudest accomplishments is building a community of over 2000 – and growing women – who are tracking their fertility,” said Cahojova. “We’ve already had several women report successful pregnancies using Kegg since our beta launch and it’s been a joy to celebrate together. We also lean on our customers for valuable feedback. Most recently, we’ve developed an upgraded app that is more intuitive and builds on our user’s feedback to provide more actionable insight into their unique fertility cycles.”

With an international research and development team led by CTO Scott Shwarts, who was behind many hardware and software products, Lady Technologies holds patents on many of the key technologies within Kegg.

“While our first consumer product helps women track their cycles, in the future we would like to advance women’s health in other categories as well,” said Cahojova.

The investment round included Crescent Ridge Partners, SOSV, Texas Halo Fund, Fermata Fund, MegaForce and several angel investors.

“Investor interest in femtech and fertility has accelerated over the last few years,” said Samina Hydery, Kegg advisor and women’s health investor. “While I’ve seen an influx of ovulation prediction kits, at-home blood tests, menstrual tracking apps and temperature monitors in the consumer market, Kegg’s value proposition became clear once I spoke with women about their experiences trying to conceive and medical researchers in the field. It’s hard not to get excited by the various growth vectors that can expand Kegg’s market in the future, from being used as a tool for natural family planning to helping monitor postpartum and perimenopausal health.”