Cooper Surgical

IVF laboratory equipment and integrated SaaS platform (Witness)

Cooper Surgical women’s health division is a growth strategy based in heavy M&A.   One area of growth focused on the laboratory equipment and controls space supporting Invitro Fertilization (IVF).  

Challenge: With the acquisition of Witness RI (Falmouth UK), the goal was to innovate the laboratory equipment platform to best-in-class performance, and transform the asset-sale business model to a continuing revenue stream.  

Solution: The first phase of work focused elevating the Witness laboratory incubator equipment to a global best-in-class solution for IVF safety and remote management. 

The key was to dig into the purpose of the organization, and the meaning behind the name “Witness”.   IVF process traditionally required a clinician’s partner to “sign-off” (eg: Witnessing) to ensure the correct egg and sperm donors were matched.  

Through the creative incorporation of technology, an improved system was defined.  RFID chips were placed on each donor dish and sensors were built into the incubator tables.  If the incorrect “couple” was detected on the incubator, the system would not allow the clinician to continue.  This created a fool-proof working mechanism to prevent mis-matches, and replace the “old school” witness sign-off process with a data-driven, tracable process that guaranteed the 100% elimination of potential mis-matches in the IVF, embryo creation process. 

The second challenge, as an OEM provider of the IVF laboratory equipment was to derive a new value stream through services.  The exploration of the SaaS model quickly uncovered the opportunity to “lease” the software as a license to the laboratories who purchased the Witness equipment.  Laboratories would pay an annual fee for the software accompanying each incubator, and tiers of value-added options such as remote monitoring, reporting, and managed data. 

Beyond Saas licensing, the “system as a service” delivered additional monetized solutions such as  disposable  petri dishes with embedded  RFID chips, scanning software, and automatic laboratory supply chain monitoring services producing recurring income streams associated with each laboratory sale. 

Results

Supported by the Falmouth UK software team, the witness RFID management platform was launched in 4 months..

Service pricing, accessories, and tiered remote management options led to a 45% increase in revenue over the base laboratory equipment sales. 

The safety quality and monitoring improvements were quickly recognized as global best in class, leading to a 100% repeat in purchase from existing laboratories and a 30% increase in new sales within the first year. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsNpXgZjjNg