Postpartum Care App Lands $3M From Mark Cuban, Serena Williams

Data-driven maternal and infant health tech startup Mahmee has garnered $3 million from tech investor Mark Cuban, tennis icon and entrepreneur Serena Williams and others to build out its digital landscape aimed at preventing critical gaps in maternal health.

“Mahmee’s mission is to increase access to comprehensive care for all mothers and babies,” Los Angeles-based Mahmee Co-Founder Melissa Hanna said in a press release announcing the investment. “We work as an extension of the care team. In doing that, we help providers listen to mothers, better understand their needs, and stay one step ahead of medical crises.”

Providing a link between mothers, their baby’s health history and data, Mahmee’s mom discussion groups offer a connection to medical providers. The platform proactively engages with users through trained maternity coaches and flags concerns.

Hanna said she created the platform to help new moms get the support they need. “We’re so focused on delivering a healthy baby that mom gets side-lined,” Hanna told TechCrunch, and when it comes to maternal care, “the data is fragmented,” because the maternal health industry lacks the IT infrastructure to connect professionals and follow and monitor new mothers across health systems.

“This missing element creates gaps in care. Mahmee is the glue that connects the care ecosystem and closes the gaps,” Hanna said in the press release. The platform’s goal is to ensure care plans are up to date and nothing is missed.

In the same press release, billionaire tech businessman Cuban said the platform is filling an unmet need. “This tech solution is helping usher in the future of maternity health care,” he said.

Fellow investor Williams, founder of Serena Ventures, said the new platform is doing important work. “Given the bleak data surrounding maternal death and injury rates, I believe that it is absolutely critical right now to invest in solutions that help protect the lives of moms and babies,” she said. “Mahmee’s data-driven approach is the right solution to one of the most significant problems in the system: that of fragmented care.”

Mahmee said it will use the new funding to expand its team of engineers, clinicians and sales staff.

The Mahmee network operates over a HIPAA-secure, online dashboard and is available to new and expecting parents and their medical providers, the report said. The proprietary platform has already identified over 1,000 critical care issues, including sepsis, postpartum psychosis and postnatal hemorrhaging.