Nader AlSalim

Nader AlSalim is a Kuwaiti-British entrepreneur who spent fourteen years in investment banking — including eight years as an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs and a subsequent role as Head of Middle East at VTB Capital — before a deeply personal experience with IVF transformed his professional path. After four failed cycles, three clinics, two countries, and over £50,000 spent, he and his wife welcomed a son. That journey led him to recognise that the fertility industry was financially opaque, emotionally isolating, and in urgent need of redesign.

Nader founded Gaia in 2019, serving as CEO, to build the world's first IVF insurance product. Gaia's predictive technology analyses clinical datasets from over a million IVF records to generate personalised predictions of treatment success, allowing the company to offer tailored insurance and payment plans where couples pay a fraction of upfront costs and only pay in full upon a successful live birth. The model eliminates the financial uncertainty that causes three in four people to abandon fertility treatment before starting.

Gaia raised $20 million in a Series A led by Atomico in 2022, bringing total funding to $23 million, with Kindred Capital, Seedcamp, and Clocktower Technology Ventures also backing the company. By 2024, Gaia members were welcoming a new baby every six days, and the company is actively expanding into the US market.