family-tech
(7)
The App That Reads Your Kid's Texts So You Don't Have To
Brian Bason built a Twitter ad-tech company, sold it, then had kids - and realized the internet he'd helped build had no adults watching the door. Bark is his answer: AI that watches for the worst so parents don't have to read everything.
The Watch That Fires Its Own Employer: How Cosmo Sells Parents a Phone-Killer for Their Kids
Russell York built a kids smartwatch that deliberately can't browse the web, can't open TikTok, and wants to be the last device parents buy before the smartphone talk. Then he sold enough of them to top Amazon's charts.
The June Care Company
The June Care Company is a mom-led childcare marketplace that connects parents needing care with vetted, background-checked stay-at-home parents in their own neighborhoods. Founded in 2021 by former Intuit general manager Gretchen Salyer, it began as pandemic-era childcare swaps among friends and grew into an app-based platform matching families with trusted local caregivers - closing the gap between families who lack affordable, flexible childcare and stay-at-home parents who want income without leaving home. Backed by $3.6M in seed funding from Craft Ventures, Greycroft, and Yes VC.
Jessica Toh
Jessica Toh is the co-founder and CEO of Huckleberry Labs, the AI-powered children's sleep and parenting app she built with her husband Seng Toh after their own son woke every two to three hours for 20 months. A UC Berkeley triple major in electrical engineering, computer science, and math & statistics with a Cambridge MBA, she turned a personal sleep crisis into data science, then into a company that now reaches more than 5 million families across 150+ countries - including roughly 15% of U.S. babies. Her mission is to make expert-grade parenting guidance affordable for everyone, not just families who can pay a sleep consultant thousands a year.
Alex Bergonia
Alex Bergonia is Chief of Staff to the CEO at Babylist, the leading baby registry and family commerce platform headquartered in Emeryville, California. With a background bridging impact investing and high-growth consumer tech, she has spent her career at the intersection of strategy, operations, and mission-driven work. Before joining Babylist, she held progressive strategy and operations leadership roles at Farmer's Business Network (FBN Financial), and earlier built expertise in impact investing through fellowships and roles at Komaza, The Nature Conservancy, DBL Partners, and RSF Social Finance. She holds an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and a BA in International Relations from Claremont McKenna College.
David Lee
David Lee is the Co-founder and CEO of Nex, a San Jose-based motion gaming company that makes the Nex Playground - a palm-sized AI console that uses motion-tracking cameras to turn living rooms into active play spaces. A Hong Kong native and second-time founder, Lee previously co-founded EditGrid (acquired by Apple in 2008), spent over eight years as a Senior Engineering Manager at Apple leading iWork for iCloud, then left in 2017 to build Nex. The company has raised $40M across three rounds from investors including the NBA, Will Smith's Dreamers Fund, and Blue Pool Capital, with celebrity backers like Steve Nash, Jeremy Lin, Mark Cuban, Simu Liu, and Thierry Henry. Nex Playground launched in December 2023 at $179, sold 600,000+ units in 2025, and landed on Fast Company's Most Innovative Gaming Companies of 2026 and TIME's 100 Most Influential Companies of 2026.
Natalie Gordon
Natalie Gordon is the CEO and Founder of Babylist, the universal baby registry and family commerce platform she coded during her son's nap time in 2011. A University of Waterloo computer science graduate and Amazon Fresh alum, she turned a personal frustration with big-box registries into a profitable, $750M+ annual revenue business serving millions of families. She has expanded Babylist beyond registries into first-party ecommerce, editorial content, and a health vertical covering insurance-reimbursed breast pumps—including Medicaid recipients. In 2025, she launched the 'End the Baby Tax' campaign, uniting 30 baby brands against tariffs in a full-page Washington Post ad and a Times Square billboard. Named a 2026 CNBC Changemaker, she is one of the most trusted voices in the parenting and family retail space.