SoShe supports new parents from trying-to-conceive through ~3 years postpartum with digital health & wellness programs that complement the care of a physician. SoShe is more evidence-based, outcomes-focused, and cost-effective than other disruptors in the space.
#SoSheCanThrive #SoWeAllThrive
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The Problem: Maternal healthcare in the U.S. has been called “a public health crisis” in part because we have the highest maternal death rate in the developed world, and we’re #1 in maternal healthcare spend. In December 2021, the White House issued a “call to action to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity.” But it’s not just the deaths and near-deaths. An estimated 20-40% of new moms have postpartum depression, anxiety, or PTSD, often undiagnosed and untreated. Upwards of 50% have long term physical complications from pregnancy and birth - again often undiagnosed and untreated. Per Lean In, 43% of new moms drop out of the workforce. (more stats)
The Solution: Changing the healthcare system, or standards of medical care, can take decades. The good news is that there are evidence-based approaches to improving health outcomes for women and babies that are vastly underutilized AND within the control of the new mom. SoShe is digitizing and democratizing these patient-driven interventions, so new parents can take ownership of their health, and payers have a cost-effective and near-term solution to improving health outcomes.
Our Vision: SoShe is building a collection of patient-facing, evidence-based, tech-driven programs to empower new families to improve their health and wellness: fewer unnecessary c-sections, maternal deaths, stillbirths, and preterm births and more breastfeeding success, emotional wellbeing, and new moms retained and rising in the workforce. We’re deeply committed to inclusivity and health equity. We believe our existing products and prototypes can save payers billions of dollars (e.g., fewer unnecessary c-sections) and literally save lives (moms and babies).
SoShe is Unique: A lot of innovators in the women’s health/maternal health space are focused on providing “the village of support” for new parents via telehealth, text support, or concierge services. Their hypothesis is that “parenting is hard” and “there are a lot of amazing experts that can help”. We share that belief, but what we’re uniquely investing in is extracting that wisdom from the heads of experts, and turning it into self-serve content and tools for new parents. And we’ve built this before…
Our Founder: SoShe is founded by Shannon Field, a tech Product Manager turned GM with 20+ years of experience with brands like Disney, Pinterest, and Zillow and several early stage startups including digital health. Prior to SoShe, Shannon was the first Head of Product, Marketing, and Business Operations at Virta Health, now a digital health unicorn in the diabetes space. Shannon worked with Virta clinicians to turn decades of in-person care into a digital-first program with paradigm shifting clinical trial results and proven ROI. As a mom of three, Shannon wanted to take this professional experience and apply it to women’s health. Shannon has an MBA and MA.Educ. from Stanford and a BS (pre-med) from Duke.
Business Model: SoShe is currently soft-launched into the market with a direct-to-consumer app (DTC) with 4,000+ users and rave reviews. Although the DTC market opportunity is in the billions - and new parents are used to spending out of pocket for things like childbirth class, lactation support, physical rehab, massage, and even physical therapy and mental health support, our plan is to expand B2B2C.
Using the c-section example, a new family won’t pay us $5,000 for avoiding an unnecessary c-section, but it makes sense for a payer to share those cost savings with SoShe. Our goal is to partner with payers, including private health plans, self-insured companies, and Medicaid programs, to offer SoShe as a covered benefit for new families. Better still if OBs and pediatricians are some of our best referrers.
Market Size: Maternal health spend is on par with diabetes ($100B+), but of course, we’re not trying to stop people from having babies. The opportunity is in cost savings resulting from better care and better health outcomes, a win-win for patients and payers. Reducing our c-section rate from the current 33% to the recommended 25% is worth billions in savings to payers. And we believe our v1 product, focused on childbirth prep and built with <$500K can reduce c-sections today. Similar cost-savings have been attached to reducing mood disorders and physical complications, and improving breastfeeding rates.
To triangulate the revenue opportunity, start with the 4 millions births each year in the U.S. If SoShe can retain members from pre-conception through postpartum (and through multiple kids), and we assume a 5 year relevance for new families, then 4 million annual births could be ~20 million target families. With a conservative price point of $250 per family per year (covered by insurance), we’d need 400K families (2% penetration) to reach $100M in revenue. A more premium $500 per family per year offering (still cheaper than other new entrants), with 10% penetration is a $1B revenue business. If SoShe becomes integral to our healthcare system and offerings - because SoShe improves outcomes and patient experience while reducing costs - the opportunity only goes up from there.
Both Hinge Health (musculoskeletal) and Virta Health (type 2 diabetes) are digital health disruptors we admire and benchmark. Both sectors have similar healthcare spend to maternal health ($100B+), and both companies now have $1B+ valuations driven by their ability to engage users, improve targeted health outcomes, and package compelling B2B2C offerings to employers and health plans.
Funding To Date: SoShe is a pre-seed company that’s raised $877K to date from a combination of angel and institutional investors. Our lead investor is Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures, a reputable pre-seed fund based in San Francisco.
The Year Ahead: Funds from this current fundraising round will be used to expand our product offering and pursue our first commercial deals. We have an amazing team of 10 people (mostly contractors), who span maternal health, software development, marketing, and more. And we show up each day to pay it forward to new parents, because we know what great preparation, and great support, can look like.
Feedback, questions, or join us on this journey? Let’s talk: [email protected]
