Glow, the fertility app startup founded by Max Levchin, has steadily expanded its network of mobile apps into pregnancy health. On Thursday, the company announced its fourth app, which aims to be a centralized place to track a newborn’s development as well as a hub for accessing data on health, breastfeeding, and more.
For the unfamiliar, Glow collects information about reproductive cycles. It uses algorithms to track the progress of a woman’s period, calculate when she’s ovulating, and ultimately predict when the next window of fertility opens.
Once a Glow user gets pregnant (the company says they have accounted for over 200,000 pregnancies from the Glow fertility app over the past two years), the startup will encourage users to use Glow Nurture, which tracks health and milestones during the 40 weeks a woman is pregnant. Approximately 80% of Glow users who conceive a baby start using the pregnancy app.
Now, Glow is aiming to usher Nurture users to Glow Baby. New mothers and fathers can track breastfeeding, how often a baby has a bowel movement, body temperature, and more. The app also allows parents to track developmental milestones, such as head control and sitting up, and growth data, such as weight and height. Along with tracking, parents can also access information from Baby411 around advice on breastfeeding and sleep training, among other activities.
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The advantage of using these tracking apps is that companies like Glow could then provide insights on a baby’s healths. For example, if the baby is not producing enough wet diapers, Glow will notify the parent that there could be a health concern.
Glow is starting to monetize those insights, which will be the first time the company is offering a paid service. In the pregnancy app, Glow will introduce a premium, $3.99 per month subscription, for which users will see more detailed information about how their data and health compares to others using the app. Other features included in the premium subscription will be exclusive content, including the ability to message others within the Glow community. Eventually, Glow Baby will also launch a premium version as well, the company said.
Glow Baby faces competition from a number of already popular infant tracking apps, including First Year and Baby Sprout. But Glow has one thing in its favor: distribution and marketing to an established audience. Because the company can see which users are pregnant (or wanting to get pregnant), the startup can recommend downloading its baby app to potential new parents.
