The platform teaches women essential breastfeeding skills and provides personalized expertise and emotional support on a 24/7 basis.
Dr Chen Mao Davies, on International Women’s Day, was awarded an Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award. This is one of only the 40 awards out of 750+ applicants.
Kathryn Green, the Innovate UK EDGE SW, motivated and ensured Chen submitted the award and walked her through the whole application process. Chen will receive a $50,000 grant, bespoke growth support, and visit schools to promoting entrepreneurship and innovative ideas to young women and girls.
Founding LatchAid
The LatchAid platform adopts a combination of state-of-the-art 3D technology, AI, virtual peer support groups, and online “live” professionals to teach women breastfeeding skills and provide them with carefully tailored expertise and emotional support a 24/7 basis.
He developed the app with an “army” of female professionals. She worked with top lactation consultants, marketing specialists, and women when building CGI technologies for Oscar-winning films like gravity.
Collaboration with professionals and technologies together, LatchAid has provided detailed 3D animations to mothers, demonstrating how the baby should take the mother’s areola into his/her mouth. This makes it achieve a deep latch that prevents damage to the breast.
Another feature is that Mums can live with LatchAid’s AI-powered chatbots, answering questions any time of the day or night.
Chen said, “Lactation consultants often ask questions many times, so we programmed the chatbot to on these issues. It’s also smart enough to understand natural language, even when the mother is exhausted, incoherent or doesn’t quite know what she is really asking – it will work it out.”
If the chatbot cannot provide answers, an expert will step in and talk to the mother directly. Mums can also enjoy the peer support network on the app, which can ease women’s worries as sharing pains and pains with other women going through.
Motivation for startup
As a new mum, Chen developed the Gloucestershire-based business, LatchAid, out of her struggles in the journey of motherhood.
She added, “I was extremely determined to breastfeed my child and its bonding. This provides the anti-babies, but nobody ever mentioned how difficult and painful it might be.
“There is much pressure facing the midwifery as the need for essential resources to provide one-to-one breastfeeding guidance throughout a mother’s stay in Hospital. Before leaving the Hospital, there were panics to excruciating pains.
“It proceeded for four days with mastitis and thrush. Mum and infant crying feeding, and it felt like a failure. The baby cannot even be fed during this time. This made the baby’s weight dropped and also developed postnatal depression.”
Innovate UK EDGE Innovation and Growth Specialist, Kathryn Green, persuaded her to take up the opportunity. With the assistance of a grant funding expert, Kim Howat, the application was given a critical appraisal.
Chen’s advice to budding entrepreneurs
Presently, one of her many duties as women in Innovation Award winner will be to visit schools and motivate more women and girls to pursue careers in innovations and entrepreneurship.
She admits that it is a long and challenging journey. She likened her story with bamboo that develops complex root systems for seven years before emerging from the shooting out from the soil as one of the fastest-growing plants.
Chen said, “I think no one is born an entrepreneur, a risk-taker or to be brave. I was quiet growing up, but entrepreneurship kicked me out of my shell.”
