Home Health Care Babyscripts raises $12M, plans to expand to all 50 states

Babyscripts raises $12M, plans to expand to all 50 states

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Babyscripts, the provider of a virtual care platform for managing obstetrics, has raised $12 million in Series B funding.

Led by the MemorialCare Innovation Fund — MemorialCare Health System’s innovation arm — the latest financing round includes participation from Banner Health, WellSpan Health, University Hospitals and the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network. These providers are all part of the company’s Strategic Partner Program, an investment bloc comprised of health systems.

Washington, D.C.-based Babyscripts offers a mobile app that delivers education and resources to support the pregnancy and postpartum journey. The app allows users to track their weight gain against Institute of Medicine guidelines and offers comprehensive blood pressure and mental health monitoring through connected devices. It alerts clinicians if an elevated risk is detected so that they can intervene if needed.

The company, which sells its solution directly to health systems and payers, was founded to address the growing physician shortage and the gaps in maternal care that low-income and minority women face, said Juan Pablo Segura, co-founder and president of Babyscripts, in an email.

More than 2.2 million women of childbearing age live in maternity care deserts that have no hospital offering obstetric care, no birth center and no obstetric provider, according to a report released by advocacy group March of Dimes in 2020. An additional 4.8 million women of childbearing age live in counties with limited access to maternity care.

“These ‘maternity care deserts’ encompass urban and rural areas — Babyscripts’ home city of Washington D.C. is a maternity care desert, with about 50% of the birthing population living in a quadrant of the city with no maternity wards,” Segura said. “These women, often struggling economically, have to travel across the city using multiple forms of transportation to receive care or deliver a baby.”

With the newly raised funds, Babyscripts plans to invest in a go-to-market strategy for its virtual maternal care solution and expand the company footprint to all 50 states.

In addition, the company will use the funds to develop new features, including enhancing its recently launched mental health product and a substance use disorder experience, Segura said.

“Babyscripts is also working on a national level with payers, and this funding will directly contribute to building infrastructure around that, including a projected doubling of the company’s current workforce,” he added.

The health technology market targeting women’s health and maternal care is fast-growing, with companies like Maven Clinic gaining unicorn status and Ro acquiring at-home fertility test startup Modern Fertility for $225 million in recent months.

But Segura believes Babyscripts has capabilities that will help it stand out. For example, Babyscripts allows the provider to customize their content and offers risk-specific remote monitoring programs that triage information, like high blood pressure and mental health risk, for providers so they can intervene, he said.

Founded in May 2014, the company has raised $26 million in funding to date.

Photo: drogatnev, Getty Images

 

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