Carina Kohli’s femtech brand HUMM helps new moms through postpartum

“A new parent and newborn need access to judgement-free, personal and approachable healthcare—on demand”

Ask any new mom, and they’ll agree that the fourth trimester—aka the twelve to fourteen months just after they’ve given birth—is the toughest one. The many physical and mental changes can be overwhelming, and can make transitioning into their new reality difficult. Yet, there isn’t always much help during that time—unless you know where to look. HUMM, a healthcare company that launched earlier this year, is trying to change that. We spoke with Carina Kohli, founder of HUMM, about why we need to focus on postpartum health, ASAP.

One would think that creating tech for a pregnant woman would be the ideal niche to hit. But HUMM speaks to the woman that has just had a baby, and is in her fourth trimester. Why?

The postpartum period is an incredibly beautiful time for a parent and their baby—full of many firsts. It’s also usually the most challenging part of the parenthood journey as almost everything is new and one has to learn on the job. At HUMM, our priority is providing high-quality and personalised care at affordable prices in a holistic manner. We provide both medical and non-medical care through our expert-created curriculum-based health programmes. Our programmes consist of unlimited one-on-one video consultations with a dedicated team of experts and doctors, unlimited chat with our in-house doulas, doctor- /expert-verified bite-sized lessons as well as self-help tools. Our programmes cover physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing. The focus areas include post-natal obgyn check-ups, recovery through physiotherapy post c-section or natural delivery, mental health, lactation and breastfeeding, nutrition and fitness, paediatric care, relationship management, sexual intimacy, work-life balance, financial planning and returning to work post maternity leave.

Historically, patient care has been skewed towards the period of pregnancy, and then once a mother has had her baby, she’s on her own for the first six to eight weeks before she comes in for a check-up. Why do we need to change that?

The fourth trimester, or the postpartum period (0-2 year stage), is the most overlooked in the entire parenthood journey. Usually when the baby comes home, all the attention goes towards the baby, and the mother is more often than not neglected. One usually forgets that the mother is as important as the baby and still needs a lot of care. After all, pregnancy and giving birth is life-changing, and it has a huge impact on one’s physical, mental and emotional state. When all of this is happening, the mother is going through a lot—she is recovering post her C-section or natural delivery, could be tackling postpartum depression or anxiety, is likely struggling with breastfeeding and lactation, is trying to figure out her new routine and nutrition needs, along with finding a work-life and relationship balance.

Approximately 25 per cent of women experience postpartum depression and approximately 75 per cent of them experience postpartum anxiety. It’s a lesser known fact, but 8-10 per cent of men experience it too. Through our research, we found out that only 16 per cent of women in rural India and 31 per cent of women in urban India receive the full antenatal care they need.

The “okay, see you in a couple months” technique particularly doesn’t work as there are many aspects that, if not diagnosed, treated or managed early, can impact one's long- term physical and mental health. A new mother and newborn need access to judgement-free, personal and approachable healthcare—on demand. This, along with information and tools that they can learn from to assist them on this new journey.

What was the research phase like to create HUMM? Who did you speak with and what insights did you get?

In early 2020, I interviewed over 300 parents and more than 30 doctors to understand more about the market. In January 2021, I launched a content and community web app called Baby Space where users could access doctor-verified information and interact with other people in similar situations. Since it was the peak of the pandemic, new parents and pregnant women were afraid and isolated and wanted answers. Back then, I felt it was the need of the hour and people could get the information they needed. Baby Space grew to a community of more than 16,000 people. We conducted a study of 640 mothers and parents as well as several focus group discussions to understand what they needed, wanted and were willing to pay for.

The more we engaged with our users, the more we understood their needs—they wanted judgement-free support from someone they could speak to—both medical and non-medical. They wanted to feel like they belonged and were not alone through their journey. We learned that while they wanted to be a part of a community, they wanted and needed affordable healthcare that didn’t feel cold or out of reach. Our learnings from our user-focus group discussions and relationships sparked our pivot from a focus only within the community to a focus in digital healthcare that is affordable, accessible and personal—for mothers, families and organisations.

It’s tough figuring out what your next step is after having a baby. Research says that women are finding it hard to go back to work and back to their lives, more so than ever. Why is this so?

Seventy-three per cent of women quit their jobs after giving birth. Even among those mothers who come back to work, 48 per cent quit within four months of returning. Balancing pregnancy, postpartum and a newborn while working is extremely challenging and a mother needs support from her family, close friends and an inclusive work environment that can help her balance her new motherhood and work. For instance, she may need a safe space to be able to breastfeed, or she may need flexible hours considering her new sleep-wake schedule.

We partner with organisations to create a more inclusive and diverse environment for women, mothers and parents by providing healthcare support customised to their needs. HUMM offers employee- and family-benefit programmes that assist employees to take care of their physical, emotional and mental health. Working parents should not have to pick between being a mom or a dad, and doing what they love.

What do you think about the world of femtech in India right now?

There’s definitely a new interest in femtech, in women’s health and a boom in the healthcare industry overall. There are incredible companies innovating and building start-ups in this space, spreading awareness and initiating conversations about women’s health. One thing that does need to change is the fact that women’s health is still looked at as a niche. Women are approximately 50 per cent of the general population. With 25 million babies born in India each year, it is now more important than ever.

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