Tagged: parenting
13 results
ActivityHero
ActivityHero is a Palo Alto-based online marketplace and software platform that helps parents find, compare, and book summer camps, after-school classes, and enrichment activities for their kids - in-person, online, or on-demand. Founded in 2012 by engineers-turned-mothers Peggy Chang and Shilpa Dalmia, it also provides registration, marketing, and management software to the camps, studios, and school districts that run those programs, connecting millions of families with tens of thousands of activity providers.
Bloom Care
Bloom Care is a Brazilian femtech building the country's largest virtual clinic for women's and family health. Founded in 2017 by three women, its app pairs members with gynecologists, obstetricians, pediatricians, psychologists and nutritionists for continuous, evidence-based care across the full life journey - from menstrual health and fertility through pregnancy, postpartum, parenting and menopause. Sold mostly through employers and health plans on a B2B2C model, Bloom counts partners like Sanofi, SulAmérica, Natura and Nestlé, and was named to CB Insights' Digital Health 150.
Joon Health
Joon Health is a San Francisco-based pediatric behavioral health company (YC W22) that turns real-life routines into a video game for kids with ADHD, autism, anxiety and depression. Children care for a virtual pet called a Doter, leveling it up by completing parent- and clinician-assigned tasks like chores, homework and hygiene. Founded in 2021 by three UC Berkeley grads, Joon has reached over 500,000 users and 18,000 paying subscribers, and raised $6.4M in 2023 to become a first-line digital treatment for pediatric behavior disorders.
Maka Kids
Maka Kids is a Detroit-based children's media company building an ad-free, algorithm-free streaming app for kids ages 0 to 6. Founded in 2023 by Isabel Sheinman and Tanyella Leta, the company designs screen time around child well-being rather than engagement. Every piece of content is scored against Maka Imprint, a patent-pending developmental framework built over two years of research with the Yale Child Study Center that maps seven domains of early childhood development across more than 650 indicators. Maka raised $3 million in seed funding led by Michigan Rise in May 2026.
Maisonette
Maisonette is a curated online marketplace for babies, kids, and parents - often described as the 'Net-a-Porter of childrenswear.' Founded in 2017 by two former Vogue staffers, it brings together clothing, shoes, toys, nursery furniture, and home decor from hundreds of independent and luxury brands in one design-led storefront, layered with its own private-label lines like Maison Me and Neon Rebels.
Freestyle
Freestyle is a Santa Monica-based, high-performance baby care company building premium diapers and wipes for modern parents who refuse to choose between performance, clean materials, and good design. Founded in 2022 by two dads, Russ Wallace and Mike Constantiner, the brand pairs proprietary absorbency technology (its BambooTek tree-free core and 7-layer Skin Shield system) with Total Chlorine Free, EWG Verified materials. After closing a $10M Series A led by Silas Capital in March 2026, Freestyle is scaling across Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Amazon, and its own subscription channel.
Babylist
Babylist is the operating system for new parenthood — a universal baby registry that grew into an ecommerce destination, a content engine, a healthcare brand, and now a chain of experiential showrooms. Founded in 2011 by ex-Amazon engineer Natalie Gordon, the company hit $750M in 2025 revenue while staying founder-led, profitable, and unapologetically focused on the parent.
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.
PatPat
PatPat is a global direct-to-consumer children's and family apparel brand founded in 2014 by two engineer-fathers, Albert Wang and Ken (Can) Gao. It uses a data-driven, mobile-first model to deliver affordable, trend-forward kids' clothing, family matching outfits, and proprietary innovations like the stain-resistant Go-Neat fabric and the light-up Go-Glow line to more than 23 million customers across 140+ countries.
Winnie
Winnie is a San Francisco-based childcare marketplace that connects millions of parents with licensed daycare centers, preschools, and early education providers across the United States. Founded in 2016 by Sara Mauskopf and Anne Halsall - two former Google and Postmates engineers who were also parents - Winnie has grown from a local San Francisco app into a national platform covering 200,000+ licensed providers in over 7,000 cities. The platform combines comprehensive data (tuition costs, licensing status, inspection reports, availability) with community reviews and a SaaS layer for providers called Winnie Pro. Ranked #177 on the 2023 Inc. 5000 list and #1 in Consumer Services, Winnie sits at the intersection of a 500-billion-dollar childcare crisis and a generation of parents who expect the same search experience for daycares that they get for restaurants.
Sara Mauskopf
Sara Mauskopf is the CEO and co-founder of Winnie, a marketplace helping millions of parents find daycare, preschool, and childcare across the United States. A MIT computer science graduate and former product leader at YouTube, Twitter, and Postmates, she co-founded Winnie in 2016 after struggling to find childcare for her first child. Under her leadership, Winnie has raised $15.5M in funding, serves over 4 million parents, covers 250K+ licensed providers across 7,000+ U.S. cities, and ranked #177 on the 2023 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies - earning the #1 Consumer Services Company spot.
Emily Oster
Emily Oster is a Harvard-trained economist, Brown University professor, and the mind behind ParentData - a platform transforming how millions of parents make decisions. With four consecutive New York Times bestsellers, TIME's 100 Most Influential People recognition, and over a million books sold, she wields data like a scalpel against pregnancy myths and parenting guilt, convincing readers that evidence beats anxiety every time.
Virginia Sole-Smith
Virginia Sole-Smith is an award-winning journalist, NYT-bestselling author, and creator of Burnt Toast - a newsletter and podcast with 66,000+ subscribers dedicated to dismantling diet culture and anti-fat bias. Her books 'The Eating Instinct' (2018) and 'Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture' (2023) have made her one of the most influential voices in fat liberation and body-positive parenting. She writes with unflinching clarity and warmth, blending rigorous investigative reporting with deeply personal narrative.