Pembroke Alumna Wins Young Innovators Award for Male Fertility Start-Up

Alumna Lily Elsner (2019, MBA) started her male fertility business, Jack Fertility, in March 2022. A year on, she has been recognised with a Young Innovators Award from Innovate UK.

The Young Innovators initiative, which looks to recognise the achievements of inspiring young entrepreneurs while helping to tackle some of our biggest societal challenges, awards each winner a grant and one-on-one business support.

Current Pembroke MCR member Ben Bréant has recently joined Lily and the team at Jack Fertility for a 3-month internship as part of his DPhil.

We asked Lily about her time at Pembroke, her career since graduating and the story behind Jack Fertility, as well as the advice she would give to Pembroke students and graduates:

“Arriving to my room in Rokos Quad in 2019 to start my MBA at Oxford’s Saïd Business School, little did I know what 2020 would hold for me! I had a delightful experience in the MCR and PCBC, and met some of my best friends in Oxford during Freshers Week and MCR Bar Nights. The inclusivity of the team and the College set it apart immediately and living in College allowed the best of SBS and Pembroke. Once UK lockdown started I was the only person left in the Henderson Building. A highlight during an otherwise lowlight was that Pembroke was my garden for the first lockdown! 

My deep love for Pembroke extends to this day as I currently coach novices and M2 for the Boat Club, and serve as the SBS/MBA Alumni Ambassador while working on my health tech startup in Oxford.

I recently started my male fertility business, Jack Fertility, in Oxford after leaving my role as Head of Strategy at Arctoris, an automated AI drug discovery platform, chaired by Patrick Pichette (1987, PPE), who I met as a student consultant at Creative Destruction Lab-Oxford. The role, based in Milton Park, allowed me to get to know the UK/Oxford life sciences venture building ecosystem while developing my leadership skills. 

The looming male fertility crisis and my own personal drive to create direct-to-consumer impact in health increased after the pandemic, which is why my co-founders and I created Jack Fertility. We at Jack are building the UK’s first postal male fertility test. Our mission is to remove the barriers to men’s reproductive health in the UK, making it as easy as possible to assess male fertility. We aim to empower all people with sperm to start taking control of their fertility journeys, and reduce the fertility burden borne by women.  

I was extremely honoured to be chosen by Innovate UK as a Young Innovator for what we are building, and indeed got a shout out from the Prime Minister. 

Pembrokians - the incredible innovators across so many disciplines that the College has produced - constantly inspire me, and I highly recommend attending alumni and College events. These extraordinary scholars, leaders, supporters, and all-round good folks fuel my drive to build my venture for the good of all. 

I would recommend to recent grads to remember both to be true to themselves and their talents, but also to lean on their communities. Asking for help and advice is one of the best and easiest ways to accelerate your growth and to achieve the goals - frankly that attitude is what allowed me to win this grant, by admitting that I need help to build the venture. Similarly, spending the time to understand what your priorities are and your personal purpose will help you find direction in both your career and personal life. 

We would be delighted to have help from the Pembroke community, current and alumni, and have already been supported so much by MCR members and alums alike.”

Our warmest congratulations to Lily for her incredible achievements. We are proud to have her as a member of our community, and look forward to following her journey with Jack Fertility.