We don’t really stray into consumer tech here at PreSeed Now, and today’s startup is about as close as we’ve got.

There’s a B2B angle too, for this health-testing startup preparing to enter the US market.

Read on to find out all about Hoopsy.

– Martin

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Hoopsy wants to make tests for pregnancy and beyond more user (and eco) friendly

Testing kits for things like pregnancy are often used for a fleeting moment and then discarded.

But they use a heck of a lot of plastic for something so disposable, and they’re not necessarily easy for consumers to use.

Looking to solve these twin problems with a fresh approach is Hoopsy.

The London-based startup wants to provide test providers with a sustainable alternative to traditional plastic tests, while giving consumers a more user-friendly experience.

“When you're taking a pregnancy test, you get two lines if it's positive, but the second line can be really, really faint, and when you're taking a test, there's a lot of hope and nervousness around it,” explains Hoopsy founder Lara Solomon.

“We found through research that 65% of women struggle to interpret the lines on the test, and they just want to be told what the result is.”

And so Hoopsy tests are accompanied by a mobile app that makes sense of the result and guides the user through the next steps in their journey.

“I found that even speaking to clinicians, 85% of people that come in to see them already know their test results, but they want someone to tell them,” Solomon explains.

“This is a really stressful, anxious time, and you’re often looking for someone to just give you that reassurance that what you're doing is okay, and just because it didn't happen this time doesn't mean it won't happen ever.

“It can tell you the things to look out for without having to go on to Google and then be overwhelmed by so many different responses, or ask AI and get some dodgy answer that's not correct at all.”

Pregnancy tests are just the beginning for Hoopsy. Solomon says over 30 billion tests are used per year in medical, environmental, food, and veterinary testing. Next on the roadmap for the startup are ovulation and Covid tests.

How it works

Visit Hoopsy’s website and you’ll find details of a product that is over 99% plastic-free. However, a 100% plastic-free version has now been developed.

The test is made from paper and cellulose. But Solomon explains that the change of materials from plastic wasn’t as straightforward as you might guess:

“We use the same antibodies, the same technology in the way it works. We just change the materials on it, which sounds really simple, and I thought it was really simple, but it's not. It’s actually quite complicated.

“With lateral flow tests, although they look really simple on the surface, there's actually a lot that goes into making sure that the urine, when it's going across, doesn't go too fast. If it goes too fast, it doesn't have time to react with the antibodies. If it goes too slow, it doesn't reach them. So there's all these things that you need to be aware of.”

And although it’s made of paper, that doesn’t mean it’s less durable if you want to keep it as a memento. Solomon says it’s actually more like cardboard than paper.

“These pregnancy tests haven't really changed since they were launched. We really want people to be aware that just because something's always been done that way it does not mean it always has to be. And just because it is plastic doesn't mean it has to be plastic. You can make things out of different materials. It just requires thinking about things a bit differently,” Solomon says.

The story so far

Solomon is a serial entrepreneur, having previously started largely product-based businesses, from which she says she’s had two exits.

Looking for a big enough problem to address for her next business, inspiration came through personal experience.

“I went through IVF, and I joined lots of groups of women trying to conceive,” she says.

“I kept seeing loads of photos of pregnancy tests. There were 10 or 15 tests, all in a row. I had no idea that women use that many tests every time they checked and I thought, why are they plastic when we literally use them for five minutes? It just seems mad. And I just thought, why has no-one done anything about this?”

Solomon first developed the 99% plastic-free version of the test with a manufacturer in China. Hoopsy has been selling this on a B2B basis in the UK for the past couple of years. But looking to expand into other markets like the EU, the feedback she received was that it would have to be 100% plastic-free.

With that version now developed, Hoopsy—with Solomon as sole founder working with a volunteer team for the time being—is targeting US expansion by going for FDA approval in the coming months.

“Forty percent of diagnostic tests are sold in the US; it's a huge market,” Solomon says.

“I anticipate we shall have approval by about August, and then we'll start manufacturing. We're manufacturing in the US, because for sustainability I wanted to keep things local. And then once we've done that, we can potentially launch back into the UK market with the same product.”

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