Momsanity App

Momsanity aims to diagnose and treat symptoms of Postpartum Depression in new moms in the first weeks after giving birth via Digital Therapy. 

Why Postpartum depression (PPD)? 

PPD is a clinical disease that often requires professional medical and/or psychological intervention. It is the most common psychiatric condition after birth. 

Analysis shows that about 17% of mothers in the world suffer from postpartum depression. The rates are found to be higher in less developed countries or low and middle-income areas. Meaning that 1 in every 7 women has an unpleasant postpartum period, filled with long-lasting sadness, anxiousness and helplessness.

• See subgroup analysis for PPD prevalence among women.
• See global prevalence here.

Postpartum depression can cause  damage to a mother’s physical and mental health. It  has a long-lasting effect - depressed mothers show lower vitality, social functioning and role limitations due to emotional problems, and mental health. In addition, mothers who have suffered from PPD tend to have significantly elevated levels of  anxiety up to the third year after childbirth compared with non-depressed mothers and their suffrage of depression usually lasts to at least one year after childbirth. 

PPD  also has an impact on the infant's physical health and development and even more- to the adult life of the offspring. That means - all involved are affected!  There is a significant correlation between PPD and child health concerns. PPD also correlates with infant’s sleep patterns, motor, cognitive, language and social development.

The economic losses due to PPD are large. An economic analysis conducted in the United Kingdom found that the economic burden  was $ 8.9 billion for live births in 2013, based on the loss of productivity, the use of health and social care and the resulting disability and special needs of the children.  

Despite the seriousness of the issue, there is evident presence of barriers to seek and access health services for depressed mothers. There is a huge stigma in regard to postpartum depression. Knowledge is lacking both for care givers and receivers. Mother-baby units are still missing or insufficient worldwide. Even if available, many mothers with postpartum depression do not have external support, are unable to separate from home and the baby, are experiencing financial difficulties or have felt fear, shame оr guilt to seek treatment. This can lead to women remaining undiagnosed for longer than is necessary. Even when women do seek treatment, they may have limited access to specialised providers, especially in poorer nations where mental health may not be prioritised.

That makes PPD a global public health problem that needs to be addressed.

Momsanity is a digital therapeutic tool to diagnose and treat Postpartum Depression. Our digital service is designed around the patient’s needs of timely assistance, cost effectiveness, equality and expertise. 

We adhere to key principles of privacy, security and inclusion to help women make the first step. By making diagnostic and treatment resources available and affordable, we aim to empower women to make decisions alongside their care providers, their social culture and their families. 

Our app is easy to use. It uses a holistic approach and  addresses lifestyle and cognitive factors in order to diminish PPD symptoms and help patients build new, adaptive strategies.

Momsanity is based on a 12-week journey, guiding the patient from basic to more advanced steps. It allows mothers to use achievable strategies and to track their own progress.

Our digital therapy helps mothers experiencing PPD, by making treatment accessible and cost-effective by at the same time offering quality assistance. Because of its accessibility it is able to cover women  from almost all levels of society who have access to the Internet and are willing to pay a small amount of money to buy our app. Our therapy can be used both separately or in a combination with different types of treatment like medication. 

By helping mothers treat PPD we will have an impact not only on mother’s, but also on infants' lives and on  society as a whole. Treating PPD is a serious challenge which we aim to tackle by contributing to the postpartum period being a pleasant and enjoyable one, during which mothers are supported and offered help and timely diagnosis.  

The access of women with postpartum depression all over the world to health systems is limited, both due to the lack of enough specialised units, the lack of specialists and the long waiting lists. Financial factors play a significant role, too, limiting the opportunities of mothers with lower socio-economic status.  To this is added the still existing taboo on PPD. Even more, some women with PPD refuse or are advised not to take medication.

We are an interdisciplinary team of professionals united around the cause of supporting mothers and families. Big part of our team are women, mothers or working for women's issues. Our strength is that we complement each other in our expertise. We have psychologists, gynaecologists, technical and regulatory staff, financiers and entrepreneurs, which allows us to build a complete product.

We see MIT Solve as a great platform for spreading awareness around PPD which is a very serious issue, affecting a large number of new mothers. At the same time treatment is often inaccessible and the issue is not very well known by both mothers and their caretakers.  By applying to MIT Solve we strive to find potential strategic and financial partners globally. Lastly, MIT Solve is a great way to speed up our go-to-market / go-to-user journeys. 

There is still no Digital Therapy for Postpartum Depression worldwide. We aim to set the first step in the field. With Momsanity we provide a solution for fully digitally oriented therapy for women with postpartum depression, which:

1) Solves the diagnostic difficulty, giving all women free equal access to an effective diagnostic tool;

2) Solves the waiting-list issue, allowing patients to address the problem immediately;

3) Solves medical treatment issues, giving a tool for treatment to women who do not need/want to take medication;

4) Solves financial issues allowing accessibility and cost-effectiveness;

5) Solves time constraints, saving travel time and providing 24/7 accessibility, both for Android and IOS users;

6) Solves uncertainty, providing a clear model of treatment with a precise sequence of specific, practical steps and an opportunity for patients to track their progress;

7) Solves rigidity, combining knowledge of a variety of therapeutic approaches and an opportunity for continuous improvement of therapy in accordance with patient feedback;

8) Solves ethical issues, guaranteeing equal rights regardless of race, age, location, culture, religion, social class;

9) Allows aid to reach women from anywhere in the world, giving access to women whose regions lack specialists;

10) Solves mental health taboo issues, enabling women to address the issue in complete confidentiality and providing non-judgmental approach;

11) Solves dependency issues empowering women with a self-help tool, which can be used separately or in combination with psychotherapy or other medical treatment.

2022 

• Launch public MVP / Prototype as a mobile App; 

• Product-market validation; 

• First steps into the German speaking region (DACH); 

• First 5 pilot projects; 

• Enter strategic accelerator for digital female health in Europe or the US;

2023 

• Raise seed capital; 

• Start working on virtual psychological cabinet in the Metaverse; 

• Expand presence across Spain, UK, Nordics;

• Enter “other markets” via strategic partnerships and revenue share model with existing local players;

• Start B2B sales;

• Create clinical protocol; 

2024

• Raise Series-A; onboard first strategic investor; 

• Establish presence in the US; 

• Start clinical trial;

• Scale up existing markets; 

2025, 2026 - adjusting current markets of presence, entering new ones, opening for strategic partnerships with big pharmacy companies;

1. Awareness: how many prospective and current mothers of the local (European) landscape are aware, interested and talking openly about PPD. 

2. Impact: how many mothers have been through the entire cycle and have shown substantial improvement in their overall mental wellbeing state.

3. Growth: how many mothers that know about us or have been through Momsanity’s treatment, recommend us to friends and family.

So far we have been experimenting with awareness and growth. We have been hosting a local podcast series in Bulgarian, which mostly validates the interest of young mothers to speak and listen about the challenges after birth. Further, most of our listeners have also contributed to growth, by spreading the word voluntarily. 

 Based on our limited testing, it seems that the PPD topic is ripe and people are highly interested in it. In addition, we have run a short questionnaire aiming to show us the current landscape of the afterbirth state of women in Bulgaria (what are the most common symptoms they experience, symptoms’ triggers, what could help them feel better, etc). For a very short period of time and through organic marketing we managed to gain 1000+ responses, which to us is a sign of the will of mothers to receive information and support about PPD and the postpartum period itself. We still need to test other markets, yet chances are we may have similar results. 

Our theory of change is that awareness will spread relatively easily. The Impact and Growth pieces will need tinkering and adjustments to different markets.  

The core technology is a cross-platform mobile App, built on react native. It is carefully created with the UX and user in mind and our prototypes already show strong initial feedback. For this we are also working closely with Apple representatives, providing us with crucial feedback on what and how to improve.

The mobile App packs an engaging and gradual user journey. We attract Moms short before the actual birth and keep them in the loop for the first 6 months post birth. In the time being they get ongoing mental health monitoring in the App, interactive content, challenges and notifications for improved adherence. 

Another expected piece of technology is our virtual psychological cabinet, running in the Meta universe and offering a virtual assistant for the patients. 

The key approach of our company is to assess both current team members and applicants by the quality of their work, motivation, ethics and contribution. Our team, despite being small (only 7 members) is a colourful palette with representatives of all ages and from different minority groups in Bulgaria. 

In addition, we strive to achieve gender equality in leadership and operation. We work to ensure that our principles will be maintained and respected with every enlargement or international expansion.

For-profit, subscription based mobile App. The initial “Test of postpartum depression” is available for free, while the optional self-help treatment is paid 

B2C - mostly for awareness and prestige, the B2C channel is used to position the app across the App markets. 

B2B2C - insurers, SMEs, Hospitals - everyone who either serves the health of their teams and clients or is interested in expanding the corporate well-being program.

Reach initial, cash-flow positive state by:

• Leveraging initial B2B sales.

• Working with ambassadors & referrals to get to the right B2B audience.

We are following the established path for medicinal products and digital therapeutics. At the very beginning bootstrapped B2B pilot projects are the way to go for initial validation and generation of some income. Later, by leveraging our Seed round, and having a partially validated product, we will increase marketing spend and ramp up market presence to get more inbound B2B sales. In parallel, we will start working with chosen partners from our network, which will drive B2B sales in key regions against a success fee.