Gameto Gets $44M to Complete U.S. Phase 3 Trial of Stem Cell-Derived Ex Vivo Egg Maturation Therapy
Gameto has raised $44 million in a Series C round led by Overwater Ventures, bringing total funding to $127 million. The financing supports the company’s Phase 3 trial of Fertilo, an iPSC-derived therapy that matures eggs ex vivo for IVF, and the expansion of its reproductive health pipeline.
Founded by Dr. Dina Radenkovic Turner and Martin Varsavsky, Gameto develops cell-engineered therapies in collaboration with research from George Church’s lab at Harvard Medical School. The Series C funding positions the company to complete late-stage clinical work and prepare for potential U.S. regulatory filings.
The company’s lead program, Fertilo, uses ovarian support cells (OSCs) engineered from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to mature eggs outside the body, reducing standard ovarian stimulation from about two weeks of daily hormone injections to two or three days. The approach is intended to lower hormone exposure and shorten treatment timelines.
Fertilo already has regulatory clearance in several countries, including Peru, Mexico, Australia, Japan, India, Singapore, and several other nations in Latin America. Fertilo previously achieved a reported first live birth in December 2024 in Peru, with the treatment enabling a reduction in hormone injections by approximately 80%. Clinical use to date has been in international markets, including partnerships such as with IVFAustralia.
See also: Gameto Achieves First Live Birth Using Egg Maturation Technology Outside the Body
To date, five babies have been born and over 20 pregnancies reported from its use.
The Phase 3 study—Fertilo In Vitro Research Study and Trial (FIRST)—is the first randomized, controlled, double-blind trial in the U.S. to evaluate iPSC-derived therapy for egg maturation. Up to 20 sites are expected to participate, including Shady Grove Fertility, Columbia University, and Prelude Fertility. An interim readout is planned for late 2026.
Other Therapies
Beyond Fertilo, Gameto is developing menopause therapies under its Ameno program, supported by ARPA-H funding. This includes an implantable cell therapy to restore ovarian hormone production and a vaginal ring designed for cyclical hormone delivery.
The company is also advancing Deovo, an in vitro organoid model of the female reproductive system aimed at improving how drugs for women are discovered and tested. Developed in collaboration with the George Church Lab at Harvard Medical School, Deovo uses iPSC-derived ovarian support cells to create functional ovarian organoids for disease modeling, high-throughput ovarian toxicity screening, and precision medicine research. The platform is intended both to accelerate the development of therapeutics targeting the female reproductive system and to provide safety data for drugs in broader clinical development.
Image credit: Gameto’s pipeline as of August 2025
Gameto’s research infrastructure integrates these organoid models with AI-driven analysis to support discovery and testing across its programs.
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