MassChallenge

SAFE4BOTH is a care strategy that supports moms with OUD and their substance-exposed child by promoting optimal prenatal and postpartum care and support. The platform supports moms in their recovery process by utilizing evidence-based treatment plans, case management, and behavioral health approaches.

SafetyKay is an education company specializing in safety awareness programs for kindergarten students. It provides tailored courses and resources to teach children essential safety skills, fostering confidence and empowering them to understand and practice security behaviors in various aspects of life.

Dream Team Baby is a leading infant and toddler sleep consulting business, operating for over a decade. Backed by a board of medical advisors, the company offers holistic sleep solutions, believing every child can learn to love sleep. Services include comprehensive sleep assessments, custom sleep plans, and intensive coaching, along with parent support and child behavior advice. Dream Team Baby works with families nationwide and has been featured on national media outlets like the Today Show.

Idori is a company that specializes in creating educational resources for children aged 3 to 8. Their products, which include imaginative picture books, eco-friendly stuffed toys, and hands-on learning activities, are designed to instill environmental awareness and sustainable behaviors in young children. By offering engaging and age-appropriate learning experiences, Idori aims to empower the next generation to care for the environment.

Delfina is a company that specializes in developing a personalized prenatal care system aimed at ensuring the safety of mothers and infants during pregnancy. By leveraging data and machine learning, Delfina's platform creates individualized pregnancy care plans that assess patient risk through various metrics. This approach not only enhances interventional workflows but also improves provider efficiency, facilitating early intervention in prenatal care. Delfina's commitment to data-driven insights is paving the way for clinical innovation, ultimately striving to deliver equitable and cost-effective healthcare solutions for expectant families.

Delfina is a company that specializes in developing a personalized prenatal care system aimed at ensuring the safety of mothers and infants during pregnancy. By leveraging data and machine learning, Delfina's platform creates individualized pregnancy care plans that assess patient risk through various metrics. This approach not only enhances interventional workflows but also improves provider efficiency, facilitating early intervention in prenatal care. Delfina's commitment to data-driven insights is paving the way for clinical innovation, ultimately striving to deliver equitable and cost-effective healthcare solutions for expectant families.

Soshe Inc. is a Boston-based company that specializes in a mobile application designed to support women's health during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. The app facilitates birth preparation and planning, enabling women to articulate their preferences for labor and delivery. It also serves as a valuable resource for doulas, midwives, and childbirth educators, allowing them to assist their clients in navigating their birth choices. Additionally, the application features an online community where users can engage with instructors to ask questions and seek guidance throughout their pregnancy journey. By providing real-time labor support, Soshe aims to enhance childbirth satisfaction and reduce the likelihood of unplanned cesarean sections. Soshe Inc. was established in 2018 and was previously known as STRAMA INC.

Nurture Pods features its platform that enables families and filters based on location, kids’ ages, and social distancing practices. Matching families into pods to continue providing education and socialization for children through homeschooling and microschools.

OpenStaff is a temporary employment network focused on Early Childhood Education, providing a streamlined platform for connecting educational centers with qualified teachers. The platform addresses both temporary and permanent hiring needs, enabling businesses to quickly and cost-effectively find suitable talent. By facilitating access to low- and middle-skilled job opportunities, OpenStaff helps clients efficiently fill staffing gaps, ensuring that educational institutions can maintain continuity and quality in their services.

Nurture Pods features its platform that enables families and filters based on location, kids’ ages, and social distancing practices. Matching families into pods to continue providing education and socialization for children through homeschooling and microschools.

Cariina is an operations enablement platform focused on enhancing safety, efficiency, and transparency in schools. It provides a mobile application that allows parents to track their child's bus rides and enables school administrators to effectively plan and manage various activities, including transportation, attendance, rostering, afterschool programs, and events. By streamlining these processes, Cariina supports schools in creating a more organized and secure environment for students and their families.

Awayte offers pet owners a preplanned platform or services to keep their pets safe, cared for and loved after they are gone.

Camppedia operates an online marketplace that specializes in connecting parents with various educational camps and activities for children. The platform allows parents to easily search for and discover book camps tailored to their specific needs and preferences, making the process of planning school breaks more efficient. By providing a centralized location for camp options, Camppedia enhances the experience for parents and supports camp providers with streamlined back-office services. This approach not only simplifies the search for suitable camps but also offers valuable insights into available opportunities.

Hera Project is an online Health App that improves the health of Syrian refugee women and children.

JuiceBox Hero operates an online platform designed to help parents find suitable childcare options, such as daycare and preschool matches. By combining statistics and insights, the platform streamlines the search process, allowing parents to filter results based on criteria like location, child's age, activities, and religious affiliation. This approach not only reduces the time and stress associated with selecting a childcare provider but also supports companies in providing their employees access to valuable childcare resources. JuiceBox Hero aims to enhance the overall experience for parents seeking childcare solutions.

SiLAS specializes in providing social, emotional, and behavioral solutions aimed at practitioners and students, particularly those on the autism spectrum. The company offers a comprehensive program that includes social-emotional learning (SEL) screenings and curricula for various age groups, in addition to curricula focused on applied behavior analysis (ABA), executive functioning, and transitional and vocational skills. SiLAS also features a data-driven animation platform designed to assist children in recognizing facial expressions, enhancing language abilities, and improving social interactions. This platform encompasses three tiers of social skills and vocational training, while allowing educators to track student performance metrics associated with individual animation projects. By enabling children to collaborate on creating animation scripts, the platform promotes essential skills such as topic generation, eye contact, and appropriate social responses.

CozyKin, founded in 2016 and based in Allston, Massachusetts, with an additional office in New York, provides childcare services tailored for new or expecting parents. The company specializes in matching families with Montessori-trained nannies to deliver personalized care in a convenient setting. By grouping families based on location, schedule, and preferences, CozyKin facilitates a two-sided marketplace where families can find high-quality childcare. Nannies, employed by CozyKin, care for 2 to 3 infants simultaneously in the families' homes, offering a solution that emphasizes cognitive development, socialization, and value over traditional daycare options. The platform leverages modern technology and provides 24/7 customer support, ensuring a seamless experience for parents. In 2020, CozyKin was acquired by Higher Ground Education, further enhancing its reach and resources in the childcare sector.

Latch Mobile offers a subscription-based service designed to assist parents in managing their children's smartphone usage while ensuring their safety. Utilizing patent-pending technology, the mobile application tracks children's activities on their devices, providing alerts for potentially harmful content, risky conversations, or dangerous behaviors without intrusive monitoring. This approach empowers parents to intervene proactively before issues escalate, addressing concerns such as exposure to inappropriate material, cyberbullying, and risky online interactions. The application allows parents to maintain control over data privacy, monitor application usage, and identify suspicious activities, thereby equipping them with the necessary information and resources to protect their children in a digital landscape.

Casa Maestra is an online education and workshop platform designed to support parents in developing essential parenting skills. It offers access to face-to-face workshops and online conferences tailored for pregnant women, babies, children, and adults. The platform provides practical tools and resources that can be accessed anytime and anywhere, creating a cultural and entertainment space for families. Through its diverse offerings, Casa Maestra aims to enhance the parenting experience by fostering community and shared learning among users.

myKidzDay is a mobile application tailored for daycare providers, facilitating enhanced communication with parents and ensuring compliance with state record-keeping regulations. The app serves over 30,000 active users and is utilized by 160 paying daycare centers across 35 states. It enables childcare centers to send daily reports, instant group messages, and reminders, while also tracking attendance and documenting assessments and observations. By streamlining communication, myKidzDay helps daycare providers attract more families, increase profitability, and reduce administrative burdens, such as staff time and printing costs. Parents benefit from secure, real-time updates, including pictures and reminders, fostering a sense of being informed and reassured about their children's care.

CozyKin, founded in 2016 and based in Allston, Massachusetts, with an additional office in New York, provides childcare services tailored for new or expecting parents. The company specializes in matching families with Montessori-trained nannies to deliver personalized care in a convenient setting. By grouping families based on location, schedule, and preferences, CozyKin facilitates a two-sided marketplace where families can find high-quality childcare. Nannies, employed by CozyKin, care for 2 to 3 infants simultaneously in the families' homes, offering a solution that emphasizes cognitive development, socialization, and value over traditional daycare options. The platform leverages modern technology and provides 24/7 customer support, ensuring a seamless experience for parents. In 2020, CozyKin was acquired by Higher Ground Education, further enhancing its reach and resources in the childcare sector.

Treasure Socks provides allergy medication and safety measurements to kids with treasures.

Tembo is an educational institution focused on enhancing early childhood education to ensure that every child has access to quality learning opportunities. The company leverages an evidence-based curriculum that addresses cognitive, motor, language, and social-emotional development. Tembo trains and certifies home educators who, in turn, provide guidance to parents through SMS, allowing them to effectively educate their children at home. This approach not only empowers parents but also offers a cost-effective solution for early childhood education, ultimately aiming to foster better futures for children.

MAMA.codes is a coding school focused on introducing young children to the fundamentals of coding and fostering digital literacy from an early age. Catering to children aged 3 to 6, the company employs a unique teaching method that incorporates songs, rhymes, and storytelling to engage students and make learning fun. Their curriculum aligns with the National Curriculum in the UK and aims to build essential skills such as problem-solving, creativity, and computational thinking, which are crucial for success in a technology-driven world. In addition to classes and holiday camps, MAMA.codes has developed a semi-independent learn-to-code app called Looparoo, designed to instill curiosity and a love for STEM subjects in children before biases can take root. The company also recognizes the need to empower parents, teachers, and caregivers—many of whom lack coding experience—by making coding accessible and approachable, ultimately inspiring adults to embark on their own coding journeys.

Koru Kids Ltd. is a childcare service provider based in London, specializing in nanny shares that connect families with full-time nannies to those seeking part-time care. Established in 2016, the company aims to improve childcare options by creating a platform that facilitates the matching of families and nannies. Koru Kids focuses on ensuring high-quality and affordable childcare by streamlining the process of finding suitable after-school nannies. The team behind the company possesses experience in childcare, healthcare, and technology startups, reflecting their commitment to enhancing childcare services. Koru Kids is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office and is affiliated with the Financial Conduct Authority's Innovation Hub, indicating a strong regulatory compliance framework.

Poppins is a mobile application that assists parents in finding and booking local babysitters quickly and efficiently. The platform allows users to search for fully vetted and police-checked childcarers in their area, ideal for last-minute needs or planned events. Parents can save their favorite sitters for easy rebooking, creating a trusted network of caregivers. The app supports various booking options, whether for a few hours, days, or on an ad-hoc basis, and simplifies payment processes by allowing parents to pay babysitters directly through the app, eliminating the need for cash transactions. Through its user-friendly interface, Poppins aims to make childcare more accessible and convenient for busy families.

Nimble Babies Limited is a manufacturer and retailer of child-friendly cleaning products designed specifically to address the messes associated with raising children. Established in 2014 and based in Leamington Spa, United Kingdom, the company offers a range of products including solutions for cleaning baby bottles and breast pumps, toys, surfaces, and clothing. These products are formulated with plant-based ingredients, ensuring a safe and effective cleaning experience without harsh chemicals. Nimble Babies aims to simplify the cleaning process for parents by providing effective solutions that tackle milk residues, food stains, and sticky messes, all while promoting a clean and safe environment for children. The company sells its products through an online store, making them accessible to a wider audience.

JustMilk is a nonprofit organization focused on creating an innovative device that enables safe delivery of life-saving medications and nutrients to breastfeeding infants. This thin, disposable silicone device is designed to hold a dispersible therapeutic tablet, which releases medicine directly into the breast milk consumed by the infant. It is capable of administering a variety of medications, including antibiotics, analgesics, antiretrovirals, and vitamins, without the need for measurement or literacy, addressing potential barriers to proper dosing. The device is hygienic, as it is disposable and does not require refrigeration, making it ideal for low-resource settings as well as broader markets. By facilitating medication delivery during breastfeeding, JustMilk aims to enhance patient compliance and promote breastfeeding, potentially saving lives and improving health outcomes for infants.

Keepers is a technology company that offers an application focused on protecting children from online dangers such as cyberbullying and sexual exploitation. The application monitors all incoming and outgoing messages on a child's device across various social media platforms, including popular ones like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. It utilizes artificial intelligence to detect suspicious and abusive content in real-time, enabling parents to receive immediate alerts about potential threats. This monitoring system aims to enhance children's digital safety while respecting their privacy, allowing guardians to be informed about their children's online interactions without overstepping boundaries.

Message of Hope Fndt they provides service for hospitalized and homeless children in communities.

SuperHealos is a start-up company dedicated to reducing children's stress and anxiety when facing challenges like medical treatment. SuperHealos, a company dedicated to making children facing medical treatment feel like superheroes. Their medical adventure story books take place in medical settings and gently expose children to what they may see on their own medical journey. Their storybooks, superhero capes and digital games come together in Medical Adventure Kits creating the perfect get well gift for children facing medical treatment.

Increment is a company that specializes in developing toys aimed at enhancing children's skills in orientation and mobility. Founded in June 2013 by Cynthia Poon and Maeve Jopson, the company is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Increment offers a range of sensory learning playthings, including O-Rings, which are designed in various colors, sizes, textures, weights, and fillings. These toys promote fidgeting, sensory integration, and therapy, encouraging independence and exploration among children of all abilities, including those with special needs. Through its innovative products, Increment aims to foster learning and growth in children, making playtime an inclusive experience.

Camp Casco is a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that gives childhood cancer patients and survivors a week of fun. They create an encouraging and supportive environment to facilitate friendships between patients and survivors, and nourish emotional support networks that thrive well beyond the week of camp. Additionally, parents can rest easy knowing that their children are in the capable hands of a round-the-clock medical staff and camp counselors trained to work with children who have special needs.

PopUp Childcare provides professional drop-in child care onsite at movie theaters, restaurants, sporting events and more. They are changing child care. They leverage unused space like function rooms at movie theaters, restaurants, hotels, sporting events, convention centers, and vacant retail real estate, to create PopUp Childcare locations staffed by their team of trained professionals. Parents search, or receive notifications, for locations with PopUp Childcare. Then book a slot, drop the kids off and enjoy a movie, meal or sporting event knowing their kids are close by, safe and having fun in their care.

Found in Translation carries out its mission though a 12-week Medical Interpreter Certificate program. The course is offered at no charge to eligible women and includes common-sense supports such as on-site childcare, transportation assistance, and mentoring. Hands-on Job Skills and Financial Literacy education is integrated into the program to help women to achieve new professional and economic heights. Medical Interpreters have a median annual wage of $43,380 and can expect 42.2% job opportunity growth by 2020 (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

ChopChopKids is an innovative non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire and teach children and families to cook real food together. We believe that cooking and eating together as a family is a vital step in resolving the obesity and hunger epidemics.

Catie’s Closet provides essential clothing and basic necessities to homeless students and those living below the poverty line. It is based in Dracut, Massachusetts.

Native Brain develops research-inspired, impact-accountable, 21st century iPad apps that help all kids learn, love, and master math, reading, and other fundamental skills.

SAFEBOARD is a foldable, lightweight child seat. The patent ensures a competent protective structure which optimizes safety. With a depth of 4”, SAFEBOARD can fold to only 25% of a conventional seat's volume, offering unmatched convenience. SAFEBOARD weighs 12 lbs (30-50% less than conventional seats). SAFEBOARD has a fun, fresh design that appeals to high-end parents. 10M seats are sold in the US every year, and SAFEBOARD's safe and easy-to-install solution is perfect for people on the move.

Go GaGa creates ergonomically safe and stylish diaper bags featuring their patent pending strap.

SittingAround is an online platform that facilitates the creation and management of babysitting cooperatives, where families can trade free babysitting services among themselves. By promoting this cooperative model, SittingAround helps families save money, with the average household saving over $500 annually, while ensuring that a sitter is always available when needed. The platform addresses common barriers to the adoption of babysitting cooperatives, such as lack of awareness and the administrative burden involved in managing them. Through its coop management site, SittingAround automates administrative tasks, making it easier for families to connect and collaborate. In addition to streamlining operations, the company actively promotes the benefits of the cooperative model to foster community among parents and children alike.