Anya baby & breastfeeding app logo - a lower case letter a with a baby's face with a tuft of hair with the word anya in lower case to the right

Why do we do what we do?

January 17, 2023

Simple really.

Our Founder and CEO, Dr Chen Mao Davies, experienced first hand the struggles of becoming a parent. Her dreams of blissful nursing evaporated, breastfeeding was very painful, and like so many other mothers, she spiralled down into PND with her first child.

Luckily, Chen is also an Oscar and BAFTA winning visual effects professional with a PhD in Computer Graphics and oodles of R&D experience. She realised that she could design a tool that would help mothers and other parents with breastfeeding – and there was no app for that in existence!

So the LatchAid app was born. Research shows that mothers, other parents and babies thrive when they get the support they need. And what better way to get out-of-hours support than on your phone, 24/7, anywhere.

Chen went around the country with her second child, raising awareness, making connections, gathering information and momentum. The app grew with the help of support from Innovate UK, Innovate UK KTN, The Health Foundation, KQ Labs and NHS England, along with our partners in healthcare across the UK.

Our Gen1 LatchAid app was so gratefully received by parents and healthcare professionals that we set about growing the scope.

What was clear is that all parents have questions, lots of them. So we wanted our AI virtual supporter to be able to offer help and information from conception to age 2, when and where parents need it. We rebranded as Anya so our name is more than just breastfeeding or chestfeeding. We took on board all our user feedback, whether from families or midwives, health visitors or infant feeding specialists. And Gen2 was born.

Our mission is to innovate to provide parents with knowledge and increase their confidence to meet their parenting goals, nurture their own wellbeing and give their child the best start in life. Together we nurture.

Welcome to the world, Anya!

#AskAnya #AnyaAnswers #Anyuary #HealthTech

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