SimpliFed Raises Over $10 Million in an Oversubscribed Series A to Expand SimpliFed’s Maternal Health Ecosystem

ITHACA, NEW YORK, April 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SimpliFed, the maternal healthcare leader in providing virtual breastfeeding and baby feeding support for new parents, announced today that it has raised $10.8 Million in its oversubscribed Series A funding round. The round was led by Morningside and Hesperia Capital with participation from Foreground Capital and additional investors. Participating existing investors also include AHA Social Impact Fund, Elizabeth Street Ventures, and Angels. The Series A funds will accelerate growth of SimpliFed’s technology-enabled maternal health platform, specifically to scale SimpliFed’s core lactation offering and additional virtual OB services. This will enable SimpliFed’s health plans and care provider partners to reach and care for moms and babies from pregnancy through the vital post-partum period, creating a first-of-its-kind virtual perinatal care provider.

“This investment will benefit patients immediately, as we grow our technology, continue to focus on patient-centric care, and bolster providers’ ability to provide the best care for mom and baby,” said Andrea Ippolito, Founder and CEO of SimpliFed. “We have created a longitudinal care model that now not only offers breastfeeding and baby feeding support, but has now evolved to serve families with virtual OB offerings. This is a testament to the needs within maternal health where we serve as an extension of the current standard of care to fill in the gaps.”

SimpliFed is the leading virtual maternal health platform focused on baby feeding and maternal support. The proprietary platform connects families with International Board Certified Lactation Consultants and other maternal health providers through secure telehealth visits, providing feeding support, maternal mental health screenings, and care navigation from pregnancy through the first and second years postpartum. SimpliFed’s new virtual OB model partners with health systems and clinics to continue delivering baby feeding support as well as virtual prenatal and postpartum care for low-risk patients. SimpliFed’s team manages lactation consultations and routine check-ins remotely while securely sharing updates with the patient’s primary OBGYN. This approach makes care more convenient for families, improves visit compliance, and frees up valuable in-clinic time for patients who require more complex or in-person care.

"SimpliFed’s evolution from a virtual lactation platform to a comprehensive virtual OB model will meaningfully close gaps in perinatal care,” said Michael Papile, Co-Founder, Hesperia Capital. “My partner, Rhett Hunter and I believe deeply in the SimpliFed mission in delivering compassionate, clinically rigorous support at scale and are excited to help accelerate that impact."

SimpliFed is in network with most major commercial health plans nationally, as well as Medicaid health plans across several states. Already, the company is on track to serve 5% of all US births in 2026. The funds raised in this Series A round will support the continued growth of SimpliFed’s proprietary Maternal Health Operating System, and activate contracted partnerships with health systems, OBGYN clinics and other strategic relationships. SimpliFed also plans to deepen their partnerships through the use of EMR interoperability standards and APIs that allow for seamless collaboration with care providers through secure capture of patient information, performing automated eligibility verification, and easy self-scheduling options for patients seeking care.

“We first backed SimpliFed because the early postpartum weeks are both profoundly important and profoundly underserved, and the market had not built a scalable way to show up for families in that window,” said Stephen Bruso, Investor at Morningside. “We’ve chosen to keep backing them because they’ve turned their original thesis into real progress on the ground by building payer partnerships, demonstrating strong engagement and outcomes, and proving that lactation can be the starting point for broader mental health support and better access to OB care.”

SimpliFed is expanding into Virtual OB services to help relieve pressure on strained healthcare systems. This model will allow providers to meet with patients both prenatally and postpartum through virtual visits. By leveraging interoperability with all major electronic medical record (EMR) systems, SimpliFed intends to create a more efficient and coordinated care experience for families.

Access to maternal care and baby-feeding support remains limited for many families. While initiation rates for breastfeeding are high, duration drops off as new parents face common barriers such as latching challenges, pain, limited access to clinical guidance, and the realities of returning to work. A recent study featured in the Capital Impact Council: HV-ROI Case Studies from the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy, proves SimpliFed’s support is not only easier for families, but also improves these outcomes. Specifically, 96.6% of patients in this study breastfed at one week and 55.3% at 12 months, compared to the national average of 85.7% and 40.8 percent respectively. Continued appointments also proved beneficial where the more visits patients attended added months to their overall breastfeeding journey. At 4–6 months postpartum, PHQ-9 scores improved more among SimpliFed appointment users, indicating a meaningful trend toward reduced postpartum depression.

Improving baby feeding outcomes is just the tip of the arrow; Data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention also shows that 25% of mothers delay prenatal care, and 60% stop breastfeeding earlier than they intended, trends largely driven by the growing number of nationwide OB-provider shortages and maternal care deserts. In response, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists now recommends adopting virtual care models to help improve maternal health outcomes, which have continually worsened. Additionally, the American Medical Association (AMA) has now eliminated the global maternity reimbursement code starting January 1st, 2027, where now all antepartum, labor and delivery, and postpartum codes will be billed separately, in an effort to improve access to care for maternal health offerings. These declining outcomes amidst an ever-changing healthcare environment, make SimpliFed's platform uniquely able to give families the exact care they need, when and when they need it the most.

With this funding, Michael Papile has joined the board alongside existing board members Stephen Bruso from Morningside, Andrea Ippolito from SimpliFed, and Sam Holliday from Oshi Health. Joining as board observers are Rhett Hunter from Hesperia, Elizabeth Bailey from Foreground, and Cat Middleton from The Venture Collective, alongside existing board observers Dan Shpilsky and Michael Waters.

For more information about SimpliFed, please visit: www.SimpliFed.com.

ABOUT SIMPLIFED
SimpliFed is a virtual maternal health leader providing comprehensive care from pregnancy through postpartum, with a strong focus on breastfeeding and baby feeding support. The company offers judgment-free, virtual support to parents throughout their feeding journeys while also addressing broader maternal health needs during the prenatal and postpartum periods. Parents connect with SimpliFed’s network of baby feeding experts and maternal health specialists from the comfort and safety of home through the company’s secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform. SimpliFed’s proprietary Maternal Health Operating System (Maternal Health OS) is designed for seamless collaboration with healthcare partners. Through interoperable infrastructure and API-driven technology, the platform integrates easily with health plans, providers, partners, and health systems enabling secure data exchange, streamlined workflows and more. SimpliFed’s mission is to build a new model for maternal and infant health by supporting families across the full continuum of care, strengthening trusted relationships with parents, partnering with healthcare payers and providers, all while advancing policy, practice, and narratives that promote health and economic equity. More information about SimpliFed can be found at: https://www.simplifed.com/.

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Carson Quinn at ZindseyMEDIA Public Relations for SimpliFed
SimpliFed
3123399779
carson@zindsey.com

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