Maven CEO Kate Ryder
New York City-based Maven Clinic, a video visit service that aims to connect women with healthcare practitioners, will launch early next year.
Maven's offering will be available on smartphones, desktop computers, and tablets. Through the service, women can book an appointment with a healthcare practitioner, speak with her via video chat, and then pay for their session. Maven CEO and Founder Kate Ryder told MobiHealthNews in an email that the price of the visit varies by provider type, but the service will be as low as $18 for a quick appointment with a nurse practitioner.
Ryder added that the company is focused on prenatal and postpartum care as well as pediatrics. Maven will work with nurse practitioners, psychiatric nurse practitioners, OB/GYNs, pediatricians, dermatologists, nutritionists, women's health physical therapists, doulas, and lactation consultants.
"Reality hits when you start a family and a lot of that falls on the woman," Ryder told Tech Republic in a recent interview. "...How do you provide better support? How do you really, really help her?"
Ryder, who previously worked as an early stage investor at venture capital firm Index Ventures, explained that before starting the company, she held focus groups with women. Through these focus groups, she learned that women wanted on demand access to healthcare practitioners to discuss prenatal care, postpartum depression, tough times during pregnancy, and breastfeeding.
Maven has recruited hundreds of practitioners for its service, according to Tech Republic. Twelve of the practitioners who have joined Maven are featured on Maven's blog.
It's likely the video visit service will be available on Android devices -- Maven is hiring developers who have experience on Android devices that range from older phones to newer tablets.
The company already has funding from 14 investors including Great Oaks Venture Capital, Venrex, and F Cubed, which is short for Female Founders Fund.
This year, several digital health startups have announced health tools for women, but just last month alone, two new services were launched for women.
In November, fertility tracking app maker Glow added postpartum support to its app for pregnant women, called Glow Nurture. With the addition of the postpartum support, Glow’s pregnancy app will now offer a breastfeeding log — breastfeeding affects nutrition and sleep cycles, which contributes to postpartum depression — as well as insights that Glow aggregated from medical journals and its medical advisory board.
Another company, Chiaro, launched a device, called Elvie, that aims to help women accurately do kegel exercises. If women wear Elvie when doing their kegel exercises, data from their exercises is sent to a companion app. Based on how well the exercises were done, the companion app provides the user with a score, which helps them track improvement over time.
