Malama Health, a maternal healthcare company providing doula-led care coordination for high-risk pregnancies, announced $9.2M in seed funding led by Acumen America with participation from Wisdom Ventures, Capital F, and Coyote Ventures, alongside federal and state grants. Funding will support expansion of maternal care services across Medicaid populations in the United States.
Care Delivery Model
Malama Health operates a care platform connecting community-based doulas, healthcare providers, and insurance systems. The company employs Doula-Care Navigators who support women throughout pregnancy, birth, and the full postpartum year. Services include birth support, home visits, remote monitoring, and escalation of clinical risk signals such as high blood pressure, postpartum depression, or abnormal glucose levels.
The platform integrates doula networks, clinical oversight, and referral workflows to improve access to maternal care for underserved communities.
Clinical Outcomes and Programs
Programs focus on addressing postpartum health risks including gestational diabetes and maternal complications. Support includes a $2.3M NIH grant funding postpartum risk stratification and a CDC-certified Diabetes Prevention Program, along with $900K in California state funding to expand doula-led care services.
Data from more than 2,500 patients shows improvements in maternal outcomes, including reduced NICU admissions, lower C-section rates, and fewer preterm births.
Veenu Aulakh, Director at Acumen America, said: “Health equity in maternal care requires trust. Through its Doula-Care Navigators, Malama has earned that trust in communities that have been failed by the healthcare system for generations, and the outcomes data show what's possible when you build care around women rather than around appointments.”
Mika Eddy, Co-Founder and CEO of Malama Health, said: “Building Malama has meant building an infrastructure the healthcare system did not already have. An employed workforce. Health plan contracts. Clinical escalation protocols. Trust with communities that have every reason to distrust the healthcare system.
The women Malama serves deserve a care team that knows their name, a doula who attends their birth, and a system that does not abandon them the moment they leave the hospital. That is what we are building. This funding means we can build it for more of them.
We are grateful to our investors, to the health plans and health systems who have taken this bet with us, and most of all to the women who have trusted us with their care.”