Ovul: An AI Breakthrough Born from Family, Fueled by Minnesota
By Zac Engler | Minnesota AI Tools
Some of the most transformative innovations aren't born in boardrooms—they're born in moments of struggle, perseverance, and deeply personal need. For Serhii Zatsarynin, founder of Ovul, the spark came during a chapter familiar to many families: the emotionally taxing journey through fertility challenges. A seasoned diagnostics engineer and former Siemens country lead, Serhii found himself frustrated by the limitations of common urine-based fertility tests. So, he built something better.
Ovul is a Minnetonka-based health tech startup that offers a world-first: an AI-powered device that analyzes dried saliva to predict estrogen trends and ovulation cycles. Rooted in century-old science of saliva ferning, Ovul brings this method into the modern age by combining image recognition AI and continuous hormone trend monitoring—all from a simple daily saliva sample.
But this story isn't just about elegant hardware or smart software. It's about resilience. Serhii and his family fled war-torn Ukraine, arriving in Minnesota with a vision and a prototype. Within a year and a half, they had built a serial production line, developed multiple AI models, and launched a product that's already helped bring three babies into the world—and counting.
Ovul is more than a fertility tracker. By enabling non-invasive, daily hormonal monitoring, the team has uncovered early signals of conditions like PCOS, estrogen dominance, and even potential preterm labor risks—insights that were previously out of reach without invasive tests. With AI continually learning from each new saliva image, the company is sitting on one of the richest, most unique women's health datasets in the world.
Minnesota, with its deep bench of medtech talent and welcoming entrepreneurial spirit, gave Ovul a home—and a launchpad. Now backed by Google for Startups and building alongside top ML talent, Serhii and his team are poised to shift the paradigm in women's health—starting with fertility, and expanding into broader hormonal diagnostics over time.
Ovul exemplifies what's possible when personal mission meets Minnesota ingenuity. It's a story of global resilience, local innovation, and AI doing what it should: serving humanity.
Learn more at ovul.ai.
Curious about how other Minnesota companies are using AI to solve real-world problems? Visit mnaitools.com to explore the growing ecosystem of innovators building the future, right here in the North Star State.