Maternal morbidity and mortality are increased within the U.S. than in different comparable nations, and ladies of coloration are two to a few instances extra possible than white girls to die from maternal well being issues. Moreover, one in ten infants within the US are born prematurely.

Pomelo Care, a digital maternal well being firm, is seeking to put these statistics into movement. The corporate introduced final week that it has raised $46 million in Collection B funding, which it can use to scale its enterprise.

New York Metropolis-based Pomelo Care fills the gaps between sufferers' current OBGYN visits, mentioned Marta Bralic Kerns, founder and CEO of the startup. The corporate creates a care plan for sufferers based mostly on their targets and threat elements. They can even have a care crew that features obstetric and pediatric suppliers, nurses, dietitians and therapists. Sufferers can meet with their care crew by way of textual content, telephone, or video at any time. Pomelo Care works with business and Medicaid well being plans and serves 3 million enrollees in 46 states.

The $46 million Collection B financing spherical was led by current traders First Spherical Capital and a16z and included participation from Stripes, Field Group, Operator Companions and SV Angel. In complete, Pomelo Care has raised $79 million.

In keeping with Dr. Vineeta Agarwala, basic accomplice at a16z Bio + Well being and board member of Pomelo, “Pomelo is certainly one of a small group of well being expertise corporations which have achieved actual scale.”

“This scale is clear in our partnerships with main Medicaid and business plans masking greater than 3 million lives, creating the chance to collaborate with obstetricians, obstetrics models and NICUs throughout the nation as we serve a whole lot of hundreds of expectant moms and offering newborns with high-quality, technology-driven care,” Agarwala mentioned in a press release.

With the funding, Pomelo is targeted on reaching extra sufferers, Bralic Kerns mentioned. The corporate is hiring throughout scientific, operations, information and engineering groups. This may enable Pomelo to “construct on our imaginative and prescient to handle the basis causes of the maternal well being disaster,” she mentioned in an electronic mail.

Pomelo Care revealed information on the outcomes and not too long ago offered them on the American Faculty of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Annual Medical and Scientific Assembly. The examine discovered that the corporate elevated charges of evidence-based aspirin prophylaxis (which improves the danger of preeclampsia) by 2.4 instances and psychological well being screening charges by 7 instances.

In the end, the corporate goals to “present free entry to high-quality maternal and little one take care of sufferers throughout the nation to cut back preventable issues and enhance outcomes,” Bralic Kerns mentioned.

Different corporations concerned in digital maternal well being embrace Maven Clinic and Mae.

Picture: Pomelo Care