Wells Fargo Conceives a High Rating for the Fertility-Benefits Biz

Companies can keep their on-tap cold brew and “unlimited” PTO. What employees really want are fertility benefits, and there’s a market for providing them that’s underserved.

Wells Fargo analysts last week rated fertility-benefits provider Progyny a strong buy, saying the category leader so far only serves 5% of its potential market. Progyny provides family-focused services to about 7 million patients at more than 600 companies, but Wells Fargo sees a potential market of 156 million. 

The decade-old company made nearly $1.3 billion in revenue in the past fiscal year, up 10%, as it continued expanding beyond basic fertility services.

New Moms, New Market

The US fertility rate dropped to a record low last year as women put off getting pregnant. The percentage of women who’d given birth dropped 20 percentage points from two decades ago to 2024, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. As of 2024, just under half of women under 30 had given birth. But that doesn’t mean they’re skipping out on children altogether, and the fertility rate could bounce back as more women decide to give birth at a later age. The percentages of women giving birth in their 30s and 40s are all trending upward, creating a growing market of women more likely to need fertility services. 

Companies are competing to fill the gap:

• Carrot also covers fertility benefits through patients’ employers, but while Progyny bundles coverage into “Smart Cycles” that cover full treatments instead of individual services, Carrot offers a fixed amount of lifetime funds.
• Progyny and Carrot have expanded beyond basic fertility services like IVF, creating more revenue from the companies they already serve. Take Progyny’s specialty pharmacy services for example. Progyny Rx went live in 2018 and made up more than a third of the company’s revenue for the past fiscal year. 

Benefits Repackaged: A policy proposed by President Trump this year could expand the market even wider. The rule would create a clear pathway for employers to offer standalone, supplemental fertility and IVF insurance. Fertility benefits becoming more of a must-have could encourage more companies to team up with third-party providers like Progyny.