The Stockholm-based femtech company Momentus, which participated in the Sting Incubate program in 2021, is raising external capital to accelerate its service targeting the health of new mothers after pregnancy and childbirth. After just a few weeks and without a marketing budget, the app had more than 1,000 downloads. Investors include Avesina Group, Propel Capital and Mattias Weinhandl’s Pluscap AB.
The maternity healthcare system does not succeed in giving new mothers the information they need to achieve good health after pregnancy and childbirth. In the digital transformation of healthcare, maternity care is still neglected, which leads to many women seeking social platforms to find advice and support. The inaccessible care, the incorrect information via social media, and the difficulty in evaluating what is actually safe advice or not, leads to many women suffering and worrying completely unnecessarily.
Momentus is a digital platform that helps women with recovery, support and guidance to proper care after pregnancy and childbirth. Through evidence-based knowledge, digital visits to midwives as well as courses developed by experts, Momentus gives new mothers the power to take control of their own health. This leads to better health and faster recovery for the women, while at the same time reducing the pressure on the healthcare system – a win-win for society as a whole.
Behind the idea are the founders Maria Undén Morein, Rebecka Wedlund, Cajsa Schalling and Emma Aronsson. Maria has a background as a doctor and board member of the Swedish Medical Women’s Association (KLF), Rebecka as a computer engineer and entrepreneur, Cajsa as a doctor at the gynecology clinic at SÖS and Emma is an obstetrician at Karolinska University Hospital.
During the past year, the company has built its product, been registered as a healthcare provider with IVO and supplemented the team with a midwife and physiotherapist specializing in women’s health. In November 2021, the first version of the service was released in App Store and Google Play and already before New Years, the app had been downloaded more than 1,000 times. Momentus is now developing in a paid version of its service and raising SEK 3.5 million in external capital.
Maria Undén Morein is a doctor and CEO of Momentus “We are finally talking about womens’ birth injuries and the need for support after a pregnancy! With today’s crisis in maternity care, we really feel it’s extra important to provide new mothers with correct information and help with recovery. This is also noticeable in the interest among investors. Our plan in the beginning was to raise 1.5-2 million, but chose to close at 3.5 million and we also said no to several interested parties.”
Parents who receive the right information and support after childbirth feel more secure, connect better with their children, and feel less anxious. Studies show that those who experience information and support as sufficient after childbirth are less likely to seek emergency care.
Many women experience that their own health after childbirth is forgotten and that their problems are not taken seriously. Even though up to 90% of all women experience health issues after giving birth, very few know what’s normal or not and when to ask for help. The founders of Momentus got tired of women feeling lost after giving birth. Momentus provides the user with easily accessible and medically correct information about what happens in the body after pregnancy and childbirth, tools for recovery and support as well as a community with other women in the same situation. And the knowledge that you are important and that your experiences and feelings, no matter what they are, are okay.
“First it’s belly, belly, belly, then it’s baby, baby, baby. There is a great need for support and advice for new mothers the time after childbirth, and with Momentus, this support is now easily available in our digital service”, concludes Maria.
