Menlo Park, California-based smart nursery company Hatch Baby announced it raised funding from Amazon’s Alexa Fund. With this investment, Hatch Baby is going to grow its abilities to support new parents. Hatch Baby is known for the Grow baby changing mat and the Rest sleep light.
By joining the Alexa Fund portfolio, Hatch Baby will continue to increase its presence in the baby space and differentiate its blend of smart products and services from others. And the company is going to expand upon its work with Alexa and other Amazon services. Hatch Baby is going to provide broader and deeper support to new parents before and after their babies are born. And the company is going to further its product and service partnerships with Amazon Baby Registry, a content partnership with Amazon Family, and integration of Hatch Baby’s skill for Alexa.
“We’ve already helped more than 200,000 families sleep better, and this investment will enable us to help more families thrive and bring greater sleep support to an even larger set of customers,” said Hatch Baby CEO and co-founder Ann Crady Weiss in a statement. “We’re thrilled that the Alexa Fund has identified Hatch Baby’s suite of products as transformative in the ways in which new parents get the support that they need. We both recognize just how hard it is to be a parent, and this investment will allow us to double down on our committed to finding smart ways to give parents the support they need.” Weiss is also a venture partner at True Ventures and previously sold the Maya’s Mom blog to Johnson & Johnson’s BabyCenter in 2007.
Through Hatch Baby’s partnership with Amazon, the company brought additional functionality to the Hatch Baby skill with Alexa. For example, parents are able to use Alexa to track diaper changes, nursing sessions, bottle feeding, naps, and baby weight
“The Alexa Fund was created to support companies embracing voice technology and exploring new and compelling uses for Alexa,” added Alexa Fund director Paul Bernard. “We see parenting and health and wellness as two areas where voice can make customers’ lives simpler, and Hatch Baby has a clear vision of how Alexa and other Amazon services can help them better support parents. We’re excited to give them the access and resources they need to expand their skill for Alexa and explore further integrations across Amazon.”
Separately, Amazon also announced it would be launching a new Baby Skill Activity API. The API would enable baby apps and devices to support voice commands via Alexa. The API is initially going to be available in the U.S.
