Lab Startup Focused on Consumer Subscription Model

Mately, a New York-based startup wants to remake STD laboratory testing with a unique subscription model, but appears to be facing stiff headwinds.

The company’s business model is straightforward: Pay a $70 initiation fee and $30 a month to be tested for HIV. Pay more for testing of other STDs, such as syphilis. Kits and samples are sent through the mail, or via a participating pharmacy, with test results posted electronically and easily accessible via a mobile app, which can also share results with other Mately members.

The intended market are the millions of young urbanites who use online dating services, according to Mately founder and Chief Executive Officer Brandon Greenberg. He estimates the potential market includes 3 million LGBT individuals and 8 million in total.

“Mobile data speeds have increased significantly, and many people use these apps habitually,” Greenberg said, adding that Mately would provide a matching lab service.

Testing would involve a relatively new dried blood strip technology developed by a laboratory in Texas. Test specimens would be sent to Texas, with a projected threeto four-day turnaround, according to Greenberg. Local pharmacies would also be used to collect buccal swabs for confirming the identity of individual users.

Mately not only would enable ongoing STD testing, but allow easy transmission of test results to potential partners. The company has also proposed that a badge indicating a Mately membership could be integrated into an individual’s online dating profiles.

According to the company website, there are 19 million new STDs diagnosed in the U.S. every year—10 times higher than the total arrived at by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which claimed about 1.9 million in total in 2014, excluding HIV. However, rates of all STDs were on the rise, including a 15.1 percent increase in cases of syphilis.

Greenberg has experience in banking regulation and compliance investigations, but none in the laboratory or health care sectors. He said about $350,000 has been invested in the company to date, and the company is looking for additional investors, including venture capital.

Peter Francis, president of Clinical Laboratory Sales Training, a laboratory consulting firm in Maryland, said Mately’s business model sounded intriguing, and may fill a need. But he also evinced some skepticism.

“I question, off hand, how many people will want—or see the need—to pay for a monthly subscription,” Francis said. “That may be the ultimate stopping point when people read the fine print.”

Mately has gotten some media attention, but not the kind typically sought by startups. It recently posted on its Facebook page a photo of Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie peering at some pieces of paper. “See Ernie, you’ve got nothing to worry about, everything is positive!” the caption read.

The stunt drew media headlines—as well as a cease and desist letter from the Children’s Television Workshop, which for some reason did not want its characters associated with STDs.

Mately spokesperson Alanna Astion said the intent was to be “light-hearted” and communicate how traditional test results printed on paper are confusing. Both she and Greenberg said they understood Sesame Street’s point of view and no similar postings would occur.

Mately’s crowdfunding campaign is currently making little headway. According to the website Indiegogo.com, it raised $3,859 in the days after its launch, and then stalled (its goal is $500,000).

Greenberg indicated there was no expectation of raising money from the crowdfunding campaign. “It’s a nice story hook,” he said.

Takeaway: Mately is trying to create a new business model for laboratory services, but appears a long way from success.