Meet Mo Taha, CEO and Co-Founder at AI-Powered, At-Home Sperm Testing Start-up: Mojo

Mojo is a fertility startup providing AI-powered, clinical-grade home sperm testing in 48 hours. We launched in the UK this summer.

Average sperm counts in the West have declined by 52% since the 1970s, and a growing body of evidence links sperm health to cardiac, mental, and sexual health conditions. But male fertility is still chronically misunderstood and misappreciated.

Compounding the problem, average clinic waiting times in London are a month and a half, and many sperm testing clinics deliver inconsistent results. Over-the-counter and DIY phone tests are even less accurate.

Mojo’s 48-hour sperm testing service features home delivery and pickup, eliminating the need for months of referrals and uncomfortable clinic visits. Our sperm analysis utilises our purpose-built AI-powered platform – the Mojo AISA – for market-leading accuracy, and is supported by results discussions and personalised sperm improvement plans with our fertility experts, to help users understand their results and guide them to boost their sperm health.

The combined accuracy and speed of our technology means we can currently process three times as many sperm tests as a traditional clinic, while also eliminating the inconsistency and human error typically associated with male fertility testing. This means the customer is getting the highest possible quality sperm analysis with no risk of misdiagnosis.
 
 

 

What’s the story behind the founding of the company?

 
The idea for Mojo was actually born of my own experiences with sperm testing. Several years ago, I was advised to store my sperm during treatment for a medical condition. I was shocked at the inconsistency of the multiple sperm analyses over the following months, and started to question how something so profoundly important could be so inaccurately measured.

I have a PhD in nanoscale engineering, and prior to Mojo I was a nanotechnology researcher at the École Centrale de Lyon. Through this background, and via the European tech ecosystem, I met a group of brilliant scientists and businesspeople, who became my three Mojo Co-founders. We resolved to fix the problems I had experienced by combining our expertise to build the required technology ourselves and pair it with a groundbreaking home delivery model.

Now, we are the only service offering a convenient, hassle-free, affordable solution that is accurate and fast, and supported by a tailored support plan to understand results.
 

What can we hope to see from Mojo in the future?

 
Next year will see new regulation introduced by the HFEA and ISO, which will further scrutinise the quality of sperm test providers. Our Mojo AISA, which was developed in-house by our team of nanotechnology roboticists and fertility specialists, is already compliant, having been validated against WHO standards and some of the world’s most prestigious ISO 15189-compliant laboratories.

We’re in a very strong position. We are determined to help millions of people to understand their sperm. Sperm health is so important – we’re living through a sperm health epidemic, and yet, societally, there’s little awareness of that.

To date, we’ve analysed an estimated 16 billion sperm cells, and we’ve created the world’s largest sperm data library. We want to use our unique and precious data pool to boost the science in the space of fertility. And our AISA technology is the foundation of a more scientific and evidence-based approach to male fertility. We want to transform global attitudes towards sperm health, and I think we’re well on our way.