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Breastfeeding App Pumpspotting Raises $1.15 Million And Aims To Help Keep Women In The Workforce


When it comes to breastfeeding, Amy VanHaren’s app pumpspotting, which has had over 40,000 users, is designed to tackle more than one issue at once. Removing barriers for both mothers and companies, and offering more equitable access to lactation support through clinical guidance, virtual community and general policies to gear up new mothers for their return to work are among these. 

One of VanHaren’s objectives in developing pumpspotting was to help keep as many women in the workforce through the app’s features, such as offering customized content around state policies and maternal health information, and navigating users toward lactation locations in their vicinities. Lactation support programs have traditionally helped companies maintain higher retention rates, and also lower medical insurance claims through fewer doctor visits, prescriptions and hospitalizations among infants. The company announced on Thursday that it raised $1.15 million in funding led by MooDoos Investments

The desire to advocate for women on personal and professional levels stems from VanHaren’s own experience as a nursing mother. She was running a marketing agency when she gave birth to her son in 2015, and felt isolated while struggling to find a balance between work and motherhood. While away on work trips, she would pump on floors of airport restrooms, inside Ubers and in the middle seats of airplanes. She broke down one day and reached out to her sister “to get a lifeline in that moment.” When her sister pumped her up with reassuring words, it was a “spark of inspiration.” “I couldn’t stop thinking, how we can all connect one another?” VanHaren said. She decided there would be value in “building something that makes mothers feel seen, feel connected, feel celebrated for this endless work that is breastfeeding.” She launched pumpspotting in 2015. 

They secured funding from MooDoos Investments because, as MooDoos managing partner Caitlin Wege puts it, “pumpspotting had a clear vision to address feeding from a holistic angle, meeting parents and babies where they are at no matter where they are in their feeding journey.” Ultimately, it helps tackle the “perennial issue that particularly plagues women—the need to drop out of the workforce,” she said. 

The app is available for download by individuals for $9.99 per month, and for employee use through company contracts, which can start at $499 per month per employer and go upward of $5,000 depending on the size of the company. They recently added to their client list a technology company with locations in multiple states and a law firm that employs over 200 attorneys. Pumpspotting has also partnered with the State of Maine to extend benefits to state employees and affiliated agencies encompassing over 30,000 people, announced in a press release on Tuesday. If the project goes well, the app will help them “better meet the health and wellness needs of employees,” Martha Bentley, Director of Economic Development Coordination at Maine’s Department of Economic and Community Development said. 

Pumpspotting has a number of board-certified lactation consultants, human resource specialists and physician advisors on board. When women are concerned about their feeding journeys, they can explore content on the app surrounding critical issues in lactation—such as mysteries around why milk supply might stop or solutions for engorged breasts—through helpful articles or more informal shares posted by parents throughout the day. 

One physician advisor, Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician and mother of two, said she was excited to work with pumpspotting because “it provides evidence-based support to help new parents navigate the common challenges that can and do happen.” “Like all of us these days, people turn to the internet/social media for resources which can vary greatly as to the appropriate answers depending on the Google search/Facebook group/TikTok videos you accidentally stumble upon. That information can be overwhelming or worse, inaccurate and harmful. We want families to have a trusted resource and a safe place to seek medical and emotional support.”

Curating useful content and crafting specific features took a lot of sketching, PowerPoint presentations, networking and numerous iterations. With her marketing background and a reliable app developer, VanHaren set out to make the first iteration, which was self-funded, with some creativity and fun. “Instead of just saying ‘loading’ it says “You’ve got this, mama,” she said. “Every touchpoint together, we tried to think, how could we surprise and delight? How can we really make this technology experience feel human and uplifting?” 

VanHaren advises budding entrepreneurs to find the right people. In her case, “someone who not just understands building an app, but how to do it in a way that really honors my vision,” she said. “And just starting with one focus—one thing you can see a way to make better or to innovate on, and then opening yourself up to what you learn.”



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