May’s Mission-minded Spotlight: Canopie
Welcome to the May edition of “Mission-minded: Building for Tomorrow”
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Did you know that May is Mental Health Awareness Month? It also overlaps with Mother’s Day, which is why this month’s spotlight is focused on maternal mental health, an area of healthcare that simply isn’t working, according to Canopie.
Through a focus on prevention and early intervention support, Canopie is an app dedicated to providing mothers, including pregnant women, with mental health resources.
1) Why care? Anxiety and depression are the most common and costly complications of pregnancy and childbirth, and the financial and societal costs remain high ($18B+ in the U.S.). An alarming 78% of women say they struggle with their postpartum mental health, more than other postpartum challenges. However, maternal mental health challenges don’t just begin after the baby is born. Expectant moms who struggle with their mental health are 3x more likely to experience a preterm birth.
2) What makes the co. credible? Canopie’s proven approach improves maternal-child health outcomes by breaking down barriers to care. According to their 2023 equity report, they screened and cared for 8,000+ expecting and new moms last year. Their trial with Ouma Health resulted in a 100% reduction in depressive and anxiety symptoms of at-risk patients across demographics, as well as a 59% decrease in EPDS scores. Canopie has even launched a partnership with Uber to help parents gain free access to their platform.
More so, Canopie has worked with experts from organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, and the World Health Organization. The startup is an alum of Techstars and MassChallenge and is backed by Virginia Venture Partners, Beta Boom and Luminary Impact Fund.
3) What I love about their story? For founder Anne Wanlund, this hits really close to home. During her son’s 1-month well visit, she was screened for postpartum depression and “could not talk without crying.” The lightbulb moment came afterward – when there was absolutely no follow-up or support. As put by Anne: “after 6 weeks, a mom is invisible in the healthcare system.” She knew this was a public health issue as this was a huge part of motherhood that we were missing at a systemic level. So she set out to help more mothers and seeks to change the stigma to “make perinatal mental health care as standard as taking a prenatal vitamin.”
If you recently found out that you’re expecting, or beginning your journey to motherhood, I urge you to consider downloading the Canopie app. Motherhood is hard, but the best part is that we have vast communities and resources to support one another.
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In case you missed it, “Mission-minded: Building for tomorrow” is a monthly series where I highlight an under-the-radar founder or company that’s building something that has the power to enact real change in our world. From my personal perspective and understanding, I’ll tell you why you should care about what they’re building, what makes them credible, and what I love about their story. Here are the companies we’ve spotlighted so far this year:
April: Wayhaven, an adaptive, chat-based mental wellness app to support the unique challenges faced by college students – available 24/7.
March: Varuna, a company that enables the delivery of clean water efficiently by providing water system operators with actionable data and insights to identify blindspots
February: Acclinate, increasing health equity by making research more inclusive by helping pharmaceutical companies and healthcare organizations access and engage communities of color
January: Mission-Driven Tech, a company that’s building innovative solutions that normalize and modernize Cervical Health, a historically underfunded and misunderstood field of medicine