Niche Opportunities in Postpartum Support

The Signal: Online communities for new parents are blowing up. The r/NewParents subreddit has exploded ~200% from 49k subscribers a year ago to 140k today. Related parenting subreddits have seen similarly high growth over the same period:

• R/AskParents (+325%): 38k → 162k subscribers
• R/Mommit (+111%): 127k → 268k
• R/BeyondTheBump (+77%): 137k → 243k

This doesn't even include the countless controversial Facebook groups for moms (join the 250k-strong r/ShitMomGroupsSay subreddit if you also love to hate them).

Social networking apps for new parents like Oath Care and Peanut have recently raised $2m and ~$22m, respectively.

We identify opportunities across 3 high-growth niches in this space:

Infant nutrition: New parents are hungrily searching for nutrition advice online.

The r/Breastfeeding and r/FormulaFeeders subreddits have a combined ~100k subscribers. Not surprising, when we consider that 60% of mothers do not breastfeed for as long as they intend to, with some of the main reasons being:

• Issues with lactation and latching,
• Concerns with infant nutrition and weight, and
• Unsupportive hospital practices and policies

SimpliFed is a "telelactation platform" that just raised $500k in pre-seed money to develop its infant feeding support platform.

New and expecting parents on the platform can book 1-hour virtual lactation consultations with a breastfeeding expert for $100. The company is also about to launch membership options that range from $120-$500.

SimpliFed is soon to launch its membership programs (Source: SimpliFed website)

They're not the only startup tackling this problem.

Lactation Lab provides at-home breast-milk analyzing kits and has raised $620k in the last year. The tests, which cost between $100 and $350, analyze breast milk to show its exact nutritional composition (e.g., vitamins, calories, carbohydrates, and calcium), allowing mothers to replenish any deficient nutrients.

There is an opportunity to create more at-home test kits for new moms who are homebound and hungry for information about their babies (like an Everlywell for infants). Things like cortisol and microbiome tests (Viome, targeted at adults, is expected to make $100m in revenue next year) could be a good place to start.

Sleep training and night nannies: Exhausted parents in the 40k-strong r/SleepTrain subreddit are at their wits' end. Google search interest in "sleep training" is at an all-time high, and parents are handing over thousands of dollars to high-tech "sleep schools."

Source: Google Trends

Batelle is a remote sleep school that just raised $4m. The company guarantees that their 2-week program will have your little one sleeping through the night. Their 10-step program costs $1.5k and includes a "sleep box" complete with color light, sleep sack, "bespoke mantras," and a timer.

You could unbundle Batelle's solution and provide sleep boxes or individual sleep aid products for infants. This baby sound machine and night light, for example, brings in ~$600k/mo. in revenue on Amazon, according to Jungle Scout.

The secondhand market for infant sleeping tech is huge. Parents are paying up to $1k for a secondhand Snoo Smart Sleeper Bassinet, which ships for $1.5k new. You could enter the growing subscription electronics space by providing parents with an option to rent expensive sleeping tech for only the few months that they need it.

There is also an opportunity to provide an on-demand telesleep platform, like a SimpliFed for sleeping. You could create an Uber-like platform that connects parents with a pool of vetted night nannies and infant sleep consultants.

Josephine Chrouch, who runs a night-nurse agency called Lullaby Services, told The Atlantic that demand for night nurse services has changed from temporary relief (e.g., a couple nights on an ad hoc basis) to longer-term, semipermanent arrangements (e.g., 6 months).

Source: Google Trends

Postpartum depression and anxiety: If you've read the in-depth biohacking report that we published last week, you'll know that we spoke to Jack Smith, a successful entrepreneur and biotech investor, about opportunities in the space.

One that he touched on was postpartum depression and anxiety, which affects 1 in 7 women during the perinatal period. "It seems like an undercover opportunity, because there's a lot of stigma in talking about it," Jack told us.

A few opportunities to help the millions of women facing this problem include:

• Anti-anxiety wearables, like these eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) wristbands that sell for ~$200
• Support groups and online communities
• Educational courses and programs, like Loom's (not that Loom) pregnancy and postpartum program which costs $90 for 12 months. The company, a digital learning platform focused on women's health, recently raised $3m.