Joy, a new parenting tech platform offering 24/7 expert-led support for parents, announced it raised $10 million in seed funding led by Forerunner. Other investors include Magnify Ventures, David Heller, Wesley Capital, Obvious Ventures, Ogden Cap, Maywic, Rogue Venture Partners, and WTI. Eurie Kim, managing partner at Forerunner, is joining the Joy board.
Joy provides a wealth of critical parenting resources in one place, providing families with immediate access to the help they need when they need it. The company’s flagship product is Joy On Call, which offers on-demand personalized guidance to parents via SMS, utilizing real experts and practitioners and relevant AI-powered insights spanning a range of Joy-curated and developed content.
The key Joy features include:
1.) Joy On Call – 24/7 Parent Expert SMS Support to contact certified experts, including sleep and lactation consultants, behavioral experts, and parent coaches.
2.) Joy Learning – A library of videos and articles that adapt to meet the diverse needs of families.
Joy Shop – Exclusive deals with many brands for ongoing savings.
Joy addresses an urgent need in consumer markets by consolidating and curating essential services to support the significant emotional and financial stress of raising children. Valuable early support like one-to-one lactation consulting, sleep training, and other digital parenting services can cost over $3,000.
This investment emphasizes the pressing need for a more accessible and comprehensive parenting solution like Joy, consolidating these critical services into one affordable platform (priced at just $8 per month). Joy provides various membership options, including monthly, quarterly, and yearly plans, allowing families to choose the best solution for their needs and budget.
Joy’s team includes lead expert Olena Dobczansky (the Clinical Program Manager at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York). And Olena’s extensive background includes a decade in maternal child health and qualifications such as a Masters of Science in Nursing, RN-MNN (registered nurse, certified in maternal newborn nursing), and IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant). Joy’s team also includes certified sleep consultants, lactation consultants, social workers, and child development experts, all dedicated to providing comprehensive family support.
The new funding will further develop Joy’s digital platform and expand its personalized services, ensuring comprehensive support for parents at every stage of their journey.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are dedicated to being a partner to parents everywhere, helping them navigate the ups and downs of parenthood with confidence and joy. No parent should feel isolated during this exciting yet often daunting stage of life,” says Emily Greenberg, Joy’s Chief Parenting Officer, reflecting on her struggles with postpartum anxiety.
- Joy CEO Alan Charming Chan
“As a mother of two young kids, I regularly feel overwhelmed with the number of new challenges that pop up daily. I have often wished for a place I could go to ask simple questions and get simple answers. Sometimes a quick fix from a more experienced parent can do the job, and sometimes I’m digging around for hours in the hopes of expert advice. This is a stress that the tens of millions of caregivers face every week, and to say it can be all-consuming is an understatement. At Forerunner, we seek to understand evolving human needs and work with visionary founders to develop new solutions that meet consumers’ shifting priorities. We see a profound opportunity to alleviate parental stress with 24/7 guidance, expert insights and digital services to transform how consumers navigate these formative and intense years.”
- Eurie Kim, Managing Partner at Forerunner
