SimpliFed Raises $500K in Pre-Seed Funding for Baby-Feeding Support

SimpliFed, an Ithaca-based startup specializing in providing new parents with lactation and baby-feeding support, recently announced that it raised $500,000 in pre-seed funding.  

The startup, which offers easy access to virtual lactation consulting appointments, is on a mission to increase the rates of breastfeeding initiation and duration for those that can and want to breastfeed. As a mother herself, founder and CEO Andrea Ippoltio was inspired to start SimpliFed following the struggles she faced breastfeeding after she had her first daughter.  

Through SimpliFed, Ippolito, who is also a lecturer in Cornell University’s College of Engineering and SC Johnson College of Business, has synergized her background in biomedical engineering and telehealth expertise to create a business that empowers parents with the information and support they need during the first months of their infant’s life.  

The funding in this pre-seed round, led by Third Culture Capital, will be used to continue to grow the company’s footprint. Immediate priorities include hiring additional lactation consultants and launching a clinical study with 1,000 new parents. 

“The U.S. culture has evolved over the years, and millennials are the next-generation moms who have a different ask, and SimpliFed is here at the right time,” Julien Pham, managing partner at Third Culture Capital in a statement to TechCrunch. “Andrea is just a dynamo. We love her energy and how she is at the front line of this as a mother herself — she is most qualified to do this, and we support her.” 

Read more about the startup’s funding milestone in TechCrunch.