Femtech start-up Béa Fertility has appointed Dr Louise Rix as chief medical officer.

Béa Fertility is developing clinical-grade, at-home fertility treatments for people who are struggling to conceive naturally.

Rix is tasked with helping to develop Béa’s hardware and digital fertility products and develop a portfolio of evidence-based fertility treatments and solutions. She will lead on the creation of educational content and resources to support customers. Rix will also steer Béa Fertility’s go-to market strategy for its product launch next summer.

Rix is a medical doctor who spent several years on the NHS front line. She spent three and a half years as a venture capitalist at Forward Partners, where she backed start-ups including Koyo Loans, FairHQ, Highr and a personal diagnostics company.

Tess Cosad, co-founder and chief executive of Béa Fertility, said: “Louise’s wealth of knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm for what we’re building knows no bounds and we’re incredibly honoured that she has chosen to join us at this crucial time in the evolution of the business. She’s going to play a key role in helping us educate women about their fertility and the options available to them. She’s also going to help us further our fundamental goal of creating new fertility pathways so that people don’t have to go through invasive and expensive fertility treatments right at the start of their fertility journeys.

Rix commented: “In my time at Forward I’ve looked at thousands of decks and spoken to hundreds of businesses. None have interested or excited me quite so much as what Tess and the team at Béa are building. Infertility is a big and growing problem. It’s extremely painful for the people who experience it. Of the women who struggle to conceive, 50% say it is the single most upsetting event of their lives. Yet we don’t talk about it enough and the systems and treatments in place to support these women haven’t changed significantly for years.

“Béa is on track to completely transform how we approach fertility care; helping to ease the pain for families by bringing education, support, transparency and affordability to the market. I’m really excited to be a part of this journey and to be able to make a tangible difference to women’s lives within a sector I’m so passionate about.”

The start-up raised $1 million in pre-seed funding earlier this year in a round led by Calm/Storm VC and joined by Q Ventures.