By Pascal Oparada
Social Media/Tech Reporter
Tennis superstar, Serena Williams, is teaming up with Mark Cuban, a businessman, to invest $3 million seed fund in Mahmee, a startup working toward filling the gap in postpartum care.
The mom of 22 month-old Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., who had postpartum trouble after the birth of her daughter is working to provide care for women suffering from the disorder. She has a history of blood clots and ended up basically shouting at the doctors to give her a CT scan that saved her life.
According to medical experts, the weeks and months following childbirth can be hard on the new mother. It is estimated that one in five women suffer from postpartum depression or anxiety and about 9 per cent of women experience post-traumatic stress disorders (PSTDs).
Physical recovery, even for healthy new mothers, takes at least six weeks. It takes eight weeks for women who have had C-Section to make full recovery.
Co-founder of Mahmee, Melissa Hanna said the real issue at the heart of postpartum is that the data is fragmented. She says this is why she built a network to get new mothers the support they need, from their community, other mothers and medical providers.
Mahmee provides not only online group discussions with other moms going through the same thing and at the same stage but also a connection to your medical provider. On top of that, it adds support from a trained “maternity coach” who can flag if something is wrong.
“We’re so focused on delivering a healthy baby that a mother gets side-lined,” She told TechCrunch.
“And this industry is lacking the IT infrastructure needed to connect these professionals from different organizations to each other and to follow and monitor patients across practices and health systems. This missing element creates gaps in care. Mahmee is the glue that connects the care ecosystem and closes the gaps,” she said.
Hanna admits it’s early days for her startup but says there are over 1,000 providers in the Mahmee network so far. She plans to use the $3 million to grow her team out, including engineers, clinicians and sales staff and hints she’s working on several partnerships within the healthcare industry right now.
