Sunflower Fund Portfolio Company Highlight: Millie
I’m not yet a mother so I cannot speak to the personal experience of giving birth in today’s U.S. healthcare system; however, I’ve learned quite a bit about the disheartening disconnect between clinical care and emotional support for mothers-to-be.
My interest in women’s health and wellness has been engrained in me ever since I was a kid. I remember my mom dropping my sister and me off at the YMCA playroom while she spent hours in the gym. Physical health has always been an important part of my life, and mental health becomes increasingly so the older I get. Many studies show the direct effect that emotion has on one’s physical body. When applied to the context of giving birth, shouldn’t mothers-to-be also be provided with the utmost emotional and psychological support - not just the physical, clinical support? The gap is real.
Why Millie?
Two years ago I had the pleasure of working with Anu Sharma, Founder and CEO of Millie, on helping her craft Millie’s story for the very first time (fresh Google Doc and all!). After my first conversation with Anu, I understood the importance and potential impact of Millie right away: the need to combine the best of OBGYN practices with the emotional support and shared perspectives women need.
Millie is building better maternity care for all, and here’s how:
Collaborative OB-midwifery model: Research shows that when midwives are involved in maternity care, the outcomes and experience are often better. At Millie, we have a collaborative care model with both OB-GYNs and midwives to help decrease interventions, increase rates of vaginal birth after C-section, and improve outcomes.
Proactive monitoring and education: One of the biggest causes of maternal mortality is delayed care due to limited knowledge of the warning signs of complications. The Millie app and care model enable remote monitoring between visits, trimesterly coaching sessions with practicing doulas, and ongoing education to promote early detection of complications and to build confidence.
Robust postpartum and mental health support: No one should have to know when to ask for help, whether it’s for their physical health or emotional well-being. Millie provides 3x the standard postpartum visits, including a home visit just a few days after birth, and comprehensive mental health support at every stage. This is especially important because complication rates are highest in the early weeks postpartum — and because mental health conditions during pregnancy can increase the risk of complications like preeclampsia.
Culturally competent care & shared decision-making: Centering care around patient experiences and perspectives not only increases satisfaction but can also increase feelings of self-efficacy and improve health outcomes. At Millie, patients have ownership over care planning and decision-making, so they always feel good about what’s happening.
Accessible, quality virtual care: Virtual care isn’t just convenient — it has the power to reduce health disparities. By incorporating virtual visits when medically possible, allowing for daily messaging with the care team via the Millie app, and inter-visit monitoring at home, we hope to remove as many barriers as we can.
The team is well-positioned to solve this problem and build these differentiators as an experienced all-women team of moms and care providers who have been there. The Founding team has backgrounds from Stanford, UCSF, and Omada, and advisors with backgrounds from CCRM, Modern Fertility, and One Medical. You’re in good hands.
Millie as a Brand
For those who don’t know, Sunflower Fund invests capital, storytelling, and design expertise in Pre-Seed and Seed private technology companies that have the potential to significantly improve and advance industries through exceptional product design, storytelling, and brand. The Fund is an extension of Sunflower and my personal work - helping founders with all things storytelling and design.
Millie checked the Fund’s boxes when it came to commitment to building a strong brand and product, putting together an exceptional team at the earliest stages, and deeply knowing the space (decades of healthcare experience) – and we are thrilled to be backing such an important mission. Being fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to work alongside Anu during the pre-launch journey, I was able to witness first-hand how she approached building a brand. She was thoughtful, clear, thought long-term, and she deeply understood how important it was to get the brand right – from the digital to physical touchpoints and everything in between.
Millie had some wonderful helping hands during the brand development stage. Shoutouts to High Tide who helped with the initial brand, Fresh Britain who also helped evolve the brand, Brett Calzada expanded the color palette, RetroFuzz built out the beautiful Millie website – some screenshots below:
Millie’s brand is modern yet warm, strong yet approachable, inviting yet rooted in beliefs, and inclusive of all.
Millie as a Product and Clinic
Millie is a hybrid model, offering in-person care extended by virtual and home-based remote monitoring. This means that there are countless touchpoints that mothers will have with Millie, and each one has been thoughtfully designed with the mother in mind – starting with the clinic layouts. Shoutout to Roarke Studios who led the design of the clinic space:
“Pregnancy can be a very anxious time and we want every interaction to leave our mothers & birthing families feeling supported. The vision for the Millie brand has always been “warm, reassuring, and competent.” We have been incredibly intentional about how Millie looks, feels, and sounds at every interaction — online, via our app, or in-person at the clinic — each one has been thoughtfully designed to be what we would have wanted for ourselves.”
- Anu Sharna, Founder & CEO, Millie
Excited About Millie, Too?
Virtual Care Available Now: Millie is accepting virtual appointment bookings for preconception care, mental health, birth & postpartum planning, nutrition counseling, and lactation support. Visits can be booked through the Millie website.
Clinic Coming to Berkeley CA, Fall 2022: The first Millie clinic will demonstrate a new standard of maternity care – covered by insurance from Day 1. You can read more about their care model here. In the months that follow, they will expand services at their Berkeley clinic, and look at growth beyond.
Designing Better Maternity Care for All
Women and mothers deserve and demand better. The future of maternity care is equally clinical/medical and emotional/supportive, and the Millie team has thoughtfully designed a solution that brings the best of OBGYN practices and the emotional support that women need today.
On a personal note: This is the exact solution I am thrilled will exist when I am ready to start a family of my own.
