Maven Raises $27M From Sequoia, Launches Breast Milk Shipping Service

Digital health clinic Maven has raised $27 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Sequoia Capital and Oak HC/FT. This is the third round of funding for the company, which has raised a total of $42 million since its inception. Previous investors in the company include Spring Mountain Capital, 8VC, and Great Oaks Venture Capital.

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Founded in 2014 by former Index Ventures investor and journalist Katherine Ryder, Maven is a digital clinic specifically focused on healthcare for women and families. Ryder founded the platform while she was looking at digital health companies as an investor.

“One thing that was just so striking was the total misalignment between the fact that the healthcare industry is dominated by the female consumer […] and for her basic needs around just having a child, or going through the big moments in life that make you female, there wasn’t a lot of support,” Ryder told Crunchbase News.

The company’s international telehealth platform connects patients and doctors through video chat and message. Services range from fertility counseling and lactation consultants to appointments with therapists and OBGYNs.

The company licenses out the platform to practitioners, where Ryder says those professionals also have tools to write prescriptions and documentation. The company has vetted 1,200 practitioners and accepts only 35 percent of the practitioners who apply to be a part of the platform.

Maven also offers a family benefits platform to employers interested in providing an employee benefit for fertility, maternity, and postpartum care. In addition to the funding, Maven is launching a breast milk shipping service for new mothers.

“It’s an extension of our return to work platform,” Ryder explained. “Being a new mom when you’re going back to the workforce, you may be asked to go on a work trip while you’re pumping, and so it’s definitely a seamless extension of that.”

Maven isn’t the only company with a milk shipping service. Milk Stork, a seed-stage company that raised in April, is also aiming to help mothers pump, store, pack, and ship their milk home with their full-service platform. On the telemedicine front, the company also faces a host of competitors. However, Ryder believes that its international presence and focus on becoming a “one stop shop” for women’s healthcare and family planning is more attractive to both individual customers and businesses.

“Companies themselves don’t want to be looking to a million different vendors out there,” Ryder said.

With the funding, the company says it will double-down on adding more family benefits clients in the U.S. The company is also focusing on building partnerships with organizations and platforms in healthcare.