Inside the ‘Tinder for sperm’: Having children is now an online marketplace too

“In vitro fertilization, at-home insemination, or intercourse?” That’s one of the questions you must answer to create a profile on Y Factor. The app describes its mission as “sperm donation to start a family". Its goal is to connect sperm donors with women or couples who want to have a child.

Behind the so-called “Tinder for sperm donors” is a 72-year-old Dane, Ole Schou, owner of what is considered the world’s largest sperm bank, Cryos International. A veteran in the industry, he launched the company in 1987. A few months ago, he took it a step further by making the leap to the internet.

The Y Factor app was launched in the United Kingdom and Denmark in June 2025 and expanded to the rest of the EU last fall. Its largest European markets are in the UK, Germany, Italy, and Spain, according to CEO Sofie Hafström Kritsotaki, who spoke with El Confidencial. The company had a booth at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), which was held in London from July 5 to 8.

Inside the “Tinder for sperm”

New users of the app are greeted by a logo in the form of a circle with a sperm cell entering it. At first glance, the software resembles any dating app: you search for candidates using filters – distance, age between 18 and 80, eye colour, hair colour, height, weight, and physical appearance. You can “like” another profile, and if you “match” (you both like each other), you can chat with that user.

The crucial difference is that, on this app, you must specify the method of sperm donation. The options are: a clinical procedure, “do-it-yourself” (home insemination, usually using a syringe), or natural (intercourse). You must also specify the type of commitment expected of the donor – donation only; donation with contact but not in person; an uncle-type relationship with the child; or co-parenting – and whether the donation will be free or paid.

In Spain, the app faces several legal and health-related restrictions, starting with anonymity. Spanish law 14/2006 stipulates that sperm donation must be anonymous, altruistic, and confidential. Therefore, all the options for “home insemination, intercourse, co-parenting, or donations only” offered by the app “are absolutely illegal”, according to Miguel Del Campo, a member of the board of directors of the Asociación Española de Genética Humana and a medical geneticist at Vall d’Hebron hospital, in an interview with El Confidencial.

The app’s creators argue that the anonymity requirement applies to sperm banks and fertility clinics, not to private individuals. Sofie Hafström Kritsotaki, executive director of Y Factor, says that the software is “not a sperm bank” but rather a matching platform. “If two consenting adults decide to conceive a child together, that is legal”, she adds.

Kritsotaki notes that in some countries clinics are not allowed to provide treatment using a privately selected donor, and therefore “many of our users are forced to travel to another EU country to receive treatment”. She argues that many families interested in donation want the children thus conceived to “be able to learn about their origins”, and that the widespread availability of genetic testing means that  “anonymity is becoming increasingly difficult to guarantee in practice”.

Anonymity in sperm donation is a requirement that varies between European countries. In Spain and Italy it is mandatory. In the Netherlands and Austria, donation is semi-anonymous, and the donor’s identity can be requested once the child reaches age 12 and 14 respectively.

Another limitation is the maximum number of children allowed to be conceived using gametes from the same donor. 

To monitor this, authorized medical centres use the Assisted Human Reproduction Information System (SIRHA). The same applies to diseases. Before accepting a semen sample, explains Del Campo, a number of tests may be performed. They include a karyotype; screening for HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia; and a general semen analysis.

At the time of publication, there were “266 prospective parents” listed in Spain. Many of the listings included photos. Could they be the work of AI? Despite the gravity of the decision, it’s easy to create an account without verification. El Confidencial tested this using a fake name and AI-generated photos.

In the description, one potential donor says he is 30 years old, 172 cm tall, and “empathetic with an IQ of 112 and good physical abilities”. Another is “open to different options – let’s talk”. There are those looking to “find a woman who wants to co-parent without any drama”. And among the prospective mothers, one describes herself as a “single mother looking for a second child”. Another, aged 36, says she hasn’t been “lucky enough to find a partner”. One account seeking a donor in Valencia asks to be contacted via the messaging app Telegram.

“I have a god complex”

In Austria, creating a profile seems to be just as easy as in Spain. No proof of identity is required, and an AI-generated photo works just fine. However, there are only 10 verified donors out of a total of 62 registered users. The app appears not to be fully up and running in the country yet. By email it informs users that the situation will improve soon and recommends that they expand their search radius.

Another online service, Samenspende.at, already offers private sperm donation in Austria. It lists around 270 registered donors and women with various motivations. Profiles are publicly visible online. The terms of the donation are negotiated via private chat, while legal and safety issues are not clearly specified. In both Germany and Austria, there are also Facebook groups dedicated to private sperm donation, with thousands of registered donors.

“Making it possible for a woman to get pregnant is a good feeling”, says a man in an in-depth report in the Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung. “I have a God complex”, he adds. “I’m the one who makes something possible, who creates something and brings it into the world.” In Austria, private sperm donation has only been legally regulated since 2024 and continues to involve considerable legal uncertainty.

In Wales, a BBC investigation found that some women “desperate to become mothers” were being sexually harassed online with offers of “cheap and illegal sperm samples”. The author of the investigation, Gemma Dunstan, found that one could obtain a syringe of sperm from a stranger in the UK with just a couple of emails and £100.

Paternity claims and inheritance disputes

Could such things happen in Spain? Leonor Ruiz Sicilia, a member of Spain’s Bioethics Committee, emphasizes to El Confidencial that Spanish law “does not provide for direct donation between private individuals” and that the practice is not regulated nor recognized as a gamete donation within the meaning of the law. She clarifies that the law does not expressly prohibit such private transactions, “but what happens outside the law is that all the safeguards disappear”.

Ruiz Sicilia warns that certain conduct could give rise to civil, administrative, or even criminal liability. “For example, if a donor deliberately conceals serious genetic diseases or falsifies medical information, we could be talking about some form of fraud.” Ruiz Sicilia believes that one of the main issues is filiation – that is, the legal bond linking a person to their parents. “When insemination takes place outside an authorized centre, the man could be legally considered the child’s father.” This could lead to claims regarding paternity or inheritance rights.

For her part, Hafström Kritsotaki argues for modernizing European legislation so that it better reflects “the diversity of family structures and methods of conception in today’s society”. She cites the examples of British Columbia (Canada) and California, where private donation contracts have the same legal recognition as donations through sperm banks.

For Ruiz Sicilia, however, non-commercial donation “poses health and bioethical risks stemming from a lack of oversight”. She notes that there is no traceability of the samples and considers the ethical risks to be “enormous”.

The bioethicist lists potential pitfalls: “the risk of commodifying the human body; economic exploitation of vulnerable people; insufficiently informed consent; and difficulties in protecting the best interests of the child”. She believes the practice “touches on issues of profound ethical significance, such as safety, quality, human dignity, equality, and justice”.

Original article in El Confidencial 

🤝 This article was produced as part of the PULSE collaborative project. Pia Kruckenhauser (Der Standard, Austria) have contributed to it.