Hoopsy helps You and the Planet
Lara Solomon, Hoopsy Founder
Hoopsy is a journey that I (Lara Solomon) started after going through two failed embryo transfers. When I looked at the challenges of getting or not getting pregnant, I realised that there are so many plastic pregnancy tests being thrown into landfill each year that it is horrifying. In the UK alone there are 12 million plastic tests that go into landfill each year.
Life, in general, can be challenging, whether you are trying to get pregnant or trying not to there is a lot of hoping and finger-crossing along the way. This is why I named the business Hoopsy – hoop is the old Dutch word for hope – for me the journey of wanting a baby was full of hope and for others they hope that they aren’t pregnant! The word hoops I also feel really describes life – jumping through hoops to get what you want.
I always thought that I’d find a man and have a family, but it just didn’t happen and time just got away from me. At 45 I did IVF and harvested my eggs, but unfortunately, none made it to day five blastocyst stage.  I then decided to go for an embryo transfer with a donor embryo and traveled to Spain (from Australia) for the transfer. After two transfers back to back, the second one resulted in a pregnancy but I miscarried. I know the struggle.
With Hoopsy my goal is to provide sustainable healthcare products that help women, their partners, and the planet. I want to reduce the amount of plastic going into landfill from pregnancy tests and know that every test we sell means one less plastic test thrown in the bin – that is what makes me JUMP out of bed each morning!
Our midstream Eco Pregnancy Test is just the start of our story, I can’t wait to see how it turns out! – Lara
Meet Our Team
Bec McHenry
Director
Bec McHenry is an experienced executive and entrepreneur with a passion for investing time, energy and resources into people and businesses who are having a tangible impact on the planet. With a background in property and consulting, having worked for herself her entire career, she brings a unique perspective to the team as both a founder, investor, mentor and advocate. As a mum with her own fertility story, she also deeply understands the important roll Hoopsy has to play in solving critical challenges and supporting a community of women around the world.
Sobha Pisharody
Advisor
Sobha Pisharody, Ph.D., is currently Managing Director of Propel Innovation, a boutique consulting firm specializing in developing and translating customer-focused strategy into products that win. She is also a fractional executive at a venture creation firm, VIC Technology Venture Development. Dr. Pisharody has held senior leadership roles in both startups and large companies, from Chief Strategy and Product Officer at InformedDNA, a genomics company focused on bridging the gap between innovative health technologies and health plans, to Senior Vice President, Product and Strategy at Talis Biomedical and Director of Product Management at Thermo Fisher Scientific where she led businesses within the qPCR and Capillary Electrophoresis franchises. Prior to that Dr. Pisharody was the founder and CEO of GenoRx, Inc, a molecular diagnostic startup. She holds a PhD in Molecular Oncology and Immunology from the New York University School of Medicine and a BS in Genetics from the University of California at Berkeley