Grindr is offering eligible employees up to $300,000 in family-building support for fertility treatment, IVF, surrogacy and adoption.

Yes. Grindr.

In this first IVFDADDIES SHOUTOUT, Julio Gaggia looks at what started with a video from Grindr’s Brian Lucksinger talking about wanting to become a father, and turned into a much bigger question about gay parenting, surrogacy and community.

Grindr CEO George Arison is himself a father through surrogacy. In 2026, he and U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper also co-wrote “Building Families Shouldn’t Be This Hard,” arguing that people building families through IVF, surrogacy and assisted reproduction can face major financial, legal and bureaucratic barriers.

But this episode isn’t really about an employee benefit.

It’s about what happens when information is everywhere, but trust isn’t.

Gay intended parents can Google IVF. AI can explain embryos. A fertility clinic can explain treatment.

What’s harder to find is another person who can say:

“We went through this too.”

IVFDADDIES asks whether the next step in LGBTQ+ family building is less about creating more information and more about creating community, connecting intended parents, gay dads and future parents through lived experience.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction to Grindr’s Family Support Initiative
01:52 George Arison’s Personal Journey and Advocacy
04:10 Community as a Solution to Fertility Barriers
05:33 The Power of Human Connection in Fertility Support

MENTIONED

Grindr’s $300K Family Planning Benefit

George Arison & Senator John Hickenlooper: “Building Families Shouldn’t Be This Hard”

IVFDADDIES Shop

DISCLAIMER

This episode is not an advertisement, paid partnership or sponsored content. IVFDADDIES has no commercial relationship with Grindr. This is an independent editorial shoutout based on publicly available information and our own commentary.

IVF Daddies is an independent editorial and educational platform. This episode is for informational purposes and does not constitute medical or legal advice.

KEYWORDS

Grindr, Grindr family planning benefit, George Arison, Brian Lucksinger, gay dads, gay parenting, gay intended parents, LGBTQ family building, LGBTQ parents, surrogacy for gay men, IVF for gay men, IVF, surrogacy, intended parents, fertility benefits, fertility treatment, family building, same-sex parents, gay fatherhood, fertility clinics, surrogacy costs, IVF costs, LGBTQ fertility, fertility community, assisted reproduction

How much does IVF really cost, and what happens when treatment fails but the money is already gone?

Before founding Sunfish, Angela Rastegar watched intended parents sell their 401(k)s and struggle to finance fertility treatment without knowing the final cost.

Then she experienced it herself.

Angela paid for four egg retrievals out of pocket. Two produced no healthy embryos. Eggs she had frozen years earlier eventually gave her another opportunity to continue building her family.

In this episode, Angela joins Richard to explain how Sunfish is trying to make IVF, egg freezing and surrogacy more financially predictable.

They discuss:

• Hidden IVF and egg-freezing costs• IVF loans and monthly payment plans• Flat-fee fertility packages• Money-back protection when treatment is unsuccessful• Financing multiple IVF cycles• Financial planning for surrogacy• How Sunfish calculates personalised costs and possible outcomes• How fertility clinics and providers are vetted• Fertility data, privacy and security• The emotional cost of beginning again

Angela explains how Sunfish uses historical, de-identified data alongside personal diagnostic information to estimate possible outcomes and build a financial package around each journey.

The technology does not replace a fertility doctor or decide someone’s treatment. It is designed to help patients understand their options, possible costs and financial exposure before committing to treatment.

This is not about making IVF cheap. It is about knowing the financial risk before using your savings, taking out a fertility loan or paying for another cycle.

Fertility treatment will always carry medical uncertainty. The final bill should not be another surprise.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Meet Angela Rastegar02:10 Egg freezing and hidden fertility costs04:16 What is Sunfish?06:34 IVF financing and money-back protection09:10 How Sunfish vets fertility clinics11:08 Why fertility needs cost transparency13:24 Four retrievals and two devastating outcomes17:41 The frozen eggs that changed Angela’s journey19:37 Egg-freezing costs and second-cycle protection20:47 Predicting fertility outcomes and costs23:21 Financial planning before treatment24:31 Fertility data, privacy and security27:59 Angela’s advice before starting IVF

Sunfish programmes, financing, refunds and financial protections depend on eligibility and individual programme terms. This conversation is educational and does not constitute medical or financial advice.

Learn more about Sunfish:
https://www.joinsunfish.com

Support IVFDADDIES:
https://ivfdaddies.com/shop

#IVFFinancing #IVFCosts #FertilityFinancing #Sunfish #IVF

Search topics: IVF financing, IVF costs, fertility loans, IVF payment plans, money-back IVF, flat-fee IVF, egg-freezing costs, surrogacy financing, fertility treatment costs, Sunfish fertility and Angela Rastegar.

What if scientists could target one of the main reasons IVF becomes less successful with age?

As eggs get older, the biological “glue” holding their chromosomes together begins to deteriorate. Chromosomes can separate incorrectly, leaving an egg with the wrong number. This can prevent an embryo from developing or reduce the chance of a successful pregnancy.

Dr Jordan Abdi joins Richard to explain how U-Ploid Biotechnologies is attempting to intervene in this process and help older eggs behave more like younger ones.

They explore:

• Why egg quality declines with age
• What happens to chromosomes during egg maturation
• The “glue” responsible for keeping chromosomes together
• Why some eggs and embryos have the wrong number of chromosomes
• Whether a treatment could produce more chromosomally normal eggs
• How this could reduce repeated IVF cycles
• The risks, ethics and regulatory pathway
• Why fertility innovation must be supported by peer-reviewed evidence

The ambition is enormous: to reduce the age penalty in IVF and give patients more chances of producing chromosomally normal embryos from each cycle.

But this is not an available fertility treatment or a guaranteed cure. U-Ploid’s work remains in development, with further studies, safety evidence and regulatory approval required before any potential patient use.

ABOUT DR JORDAN ABDI

Dr Jordan Abdi is a physician and Co-Founder and CEO of U-Ploid Biotechnologies.

He holds a medical degree from Imperial College London and a Master of Global Affairs from Tsinghua University, where he was a Schwarzman Scholar.

Before founding U-Ploid, Jordan held commercial leadership roles at PicnicHealth and Holmusk, working across pharmaceutical partnerships, behavioural health, mergers and strategic partnerships.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Can scientists improve ageing eggs?
01:45 Why infertility remains largely incurable
02:48 Challenging what we accept about egg ageing
03:43 How an egg prepares for fertilisation
04:57 What is a polar body?
06:01 Why chromosomes begin failing with age
06:40 The biological “glue” holding eggs together
08:43 Why scientists cannot simply repair an egg
09:42 Supplementing the egg’s missing “glue”
10:48 Making an older egg behave like a younger egg
11:26 The safety questions that must be answered
12:35 The pathway towards human clinical trials
13:20 Research involving donated immature eggs
15:00 Euploid eggs and the ethics of fertility research
17:18 How dramatically egg error rates rise with age
18:27 Could this change IVF success rates?
19:31 Egg freezing, fertility hope and false guarantees
21:02 Could better eggs mean fewer IVF cycles?
22:03 Is egg biology simply too complex to treat?
22:53 Jordan’s advice for patients
24:02 Final thoughts

FIND OUT MORE

U-Ploid Biotechnologies
https://www.u-ploid.com/

Explore the technology
https://www.u-ploid.com/technology

Meet the U-Ploid team
https://www.u-ploid.com/about

News and research
https://www.u-ploid.com/news-research

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Support the podcast and explore the IVFDADDIES collection:
https://www.ivfdaddies.com/shop

This episode is for education and discussion only. It does not provide medical advice. Speak with a qualified fertility professional before making decisions about fertility testing or treatment.

#IVF #EggQuality #Fertility #FertilityScience #ReproductiveHealth #Embryology #Aneuploidy #EggFreezing #FertilityInnovation #IVFDADDIES