Presenter: Melinda Nicci

Job title: Company founder

Based in: London

Founded in: 2014

No. of Employees: 5

Founder profile

Melinda Nicci is a Sport Psychologist, fitness trainer, entrepreneur and consultant in health technology. She previously served as a Senior Director at Philips Global Group Innovation for consumer healthcare, she co-wrote a pregnancy book for DK publishers and produced a very successful pregnancy wellbeing and fitness DVD.

She is considered one of the exemplars for female entrepreneurs in technology.

Recent Milestones

• Launched our e-commerce shop
• Reached 11,000 subscribers within 6 months
• Content for pregnancy and 3 years post pregnancy (free content)
• First revenue stream has been validated (personalised beauty/wellbeing boxes)

Upcoming Milestones

• Launching online courses
• Extending e-commerce offering
• Launching subscription services
• Building ‘planning for pregnancy’ content
• Integration with wearable technology and fitness apps

Background Profile

The Baby2Body platform helps mothers live better with evidence-based, relevant information through various channels. It is the first resource that addresses wellbeing, fitness, nutrition and beauty for moms during pregnancy and beyond.

It provides premium content and learning opportunities through an online Academy and a curated e-commerce experience.

Inside track

Baby2Body began as a service-based business, and now Melinda Nicci has launched Baby2Body as an online platform to improve the lives of mothers everywhere.

Initial funding came from a TSB proof of market grant that identified what women’s biggest concerns are through pregnancy and new motherhood, and evaluated their most prominent unmet needs. A successful seed raise with Forward Partners in December 2014 enabled the company to launch in January 2015. 

Although the pregnancy space is a large, competitive market – Baby2Body has found a vital niche in providing holistic health information and inspiration for its users. In 6 months the company now has 5 employees and over 12,000 subscribers and a significant social media following.

The content available to its users follows the growth of a woman’s baby, but also focuses on her fitness, nutrition, psychological wellbeing and beauty needs during this critical time. The available information is timely, relevant and actionable; a woman gets the information she needs, exactly when she needs it.

The content is evidence-based and backed by expert advice, and it is delivered in a direct, unbiased and personalised format.

Baby2Body is the first pregnancy health and wellbeing company to collaborate with premium, niche and ethical brands to give women the ultimate experience.

By providing a multi-channel approach (emails, website, blog, social media and an upcoming online course Academy) – women will have complete access to both virtual and real products.

Baby2Body has already demonstrated great success through impressive retention rates, 60% open rates of daily emails and a growing global user base (UK, Europe, South Africa, Australia and the U.S.) – and it is positioned to become the leading health and wellbeing resource for pregnant woman and mothers.

Recent Technology

Entire site is mobile optimised, and a mobile app is in the process of being built. Plans are in motion to integrate wearable technology into our user experience, so that consumers can better track their health and fitness and have a comprehensive, holistic experience with Baby2Body.

Alliances

• Virgin Active
• Caudalie
• Soulmate Foods
• Bizzby
• Urban Fruit
• Boots No7
• Mustela
• Biocare
• Pregnacare
• Phyto
• Bath & Unwind
• Various other niche health and beauty brands

Investors

• Stefan Roever (chairman)
• Forward Partners VC