Riley is an all-in-one parenting app that adapts to your family’s needs, offering personalized, expert-backed guidance to help you navigate parenting with confidence and support. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Riley’s founder and CEO, Amanda DeLuca, to learn more about the company.
Amanda DeLuca’s Background
Can you share a bit about your background and the path that led you to Riley? DeLuca said:
“I’ve spent most of my career as a product manager, building consumer tech products at companies like Google, Etsy, NerdWallet, and Eventbrite. My focus has always been on solving real problems for real people through technology.” When I became a mom and struggled with postpartum anxiety, I saw firsthand how underserved parents were by existing tools. That experience, combined with my background in product and my certification as a pediatric sleep consultant, made me realize I could build something better. That’s what led me to create Riley.”
Formation Of The Company
What inspired you to build Riley and how did the idea for the company come together? DeLuca shared:
Riley was born out of necessity. During my postpartum period, I was constantly overwhelmed by conflicting advice and late-night Google searches. I kept thinking—why hasn’t anyone built a tool that actually supports parents in real time? That thought wouldn’t leave me. I eventually left my job at another parenting startup and started Riley when my daughter was around 18 months old. I wanted to create the kind of personalized, science-backed guidance I wish I had during those first chaotic months.”
Standout Moment
What’s been a standout moment for you since starting Riley? DeLuca reflected:
“A standout moment for me was the first time a user—someone I didn’t know—wrote in to thank us. It happened around mid-December, just as we were closing our fundraising round. They shared that Riley had significantly lowered their anxiety and was so much better than endlessly Googling for answers. After spending so much time building Riley alone in a room during the early stages, hearing that it truly made a difference for someone was magical. Moments like that, especially those first few pieces of feedback, are something I will cherish forever.”
Core Features
What are Riley’s core features and offerings? DeLuca explained:
“Riley provides instant, expert-backed guidance on everything from sleep schedules to feeding and developmental milestones. Core features include the Golden Window for sleep prediction, Voice Mode for hands-free use, Multi-Player Mode for caregiver collaboration, and data import for seamless transitions from other tracking apps.
Challenges Faced
Have you encountered any recent challenges in parenting tech, and how have you worked through them? DeLuca acknowledged:
“Parenting tech is a fascinating but challenging space because many existing solutions are still very analog and place a heavy burden on the parent. One of our biggest challenges has been striking the right balance between offering maximum usefulness without overwhelming already-overwhelmed parents. We want Riley to be immediately intuitive, especially for a new parent at 3 a.m. trying to figure things out. We’ve worked through this challenge by investing heavily in user research, releasing updates quickly (about once a week), and learning rapidly from user feedback to keep improving the experience.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has Riley’s technology developed since the early days? DeLuca noted:
“In the early days, Riley’s technology was built almost entirely by me—just me, ChatGPT 3.5, and cloud services. The core functionality hasn’t changed, but the tech has become dramatically stronger, faster, and more secure. As we’ve built out a world-class team—bringing on experts like our Head of Engineering, backend developers, and iOS specialists—the quality of our technology has improved exponentially. Being a technical founder has been critical: my ability to describe exactly how I want the technology to function has given us a real leg up as we’ve scaled.”
Milestones
What milestones are you most proud of as a company? DeLuca cited:
“Every team hire has been a major milestone, each person we’ve added is a true expert and brings so much genius to Riley. I’m deeply honored that such talented people choose to work here. Publicly launching Riley, announcing and closing our fundraising round, and a few exciting milestones coming up soon are also major moments for us. It’s been an incredible journey so far, and I know this list will keep growing quickly.”
Memorable Stories
Do you have any memorable stories from Riley users that speak to the platform’s impact? DeLuca highlighted:
“One Riley user shared how her newborn was spitting up constantly. She felt overwhelmed by what she was reading online, but Riley knew her child’s background and helped her feel confident enough to go to her pediatrician. It turned out to be reflux, and the user credited Riley for helping her get there faster and with less anxiety.”
Funding
When asking DeLuca about the company’s funding details, she revealed:
“Riley recently raised a $3.1 million seed round, led by True Ventures with participation from Flybridge and NextView Ventures.”
Differentiation From Competition
In a crowded space, what makes Riley different from other parenting tools? DeLuca affirmed:
“Riley combines AI technology with expert insights to offer personalized, science-backed support that evolves with each family. Unlike generic tools or advice forums, Riley actually learns about your child and adapts to their unique needs. It’s built to be a real-time companion, not just a content library.”
Future Goals
What does the future hold for Riley? What are your goals moving forward? DeLuca emphasized:
“We’re focused on expanding our features, growing our team, and continuing to reach more families. We want to support parents not just in the newborn phase but throughout early childhood and beyond. Our goal is to become the go-to parenting platform, offering trusted, personalized support whenever parents need it.
Additional Thoughts
Anything else you’d like to share with us? DeLuca concluded:
“We’re still in the early days of Riley’s public launch, and we are incredibly excited to continue building this game-changing tool with our community. Our vision is for Riley to be useful to parents throughout all stages of their children’s lives—not just during infancy. We are eager to hear feedback and learn how to make Riley the best possible platform for families. Hearing directly from our users helps us create a solution that genuinely fits their needs, and we’re thrilled to welcome new families into the app every day.”
