Tia: Redesigning Health Education & Wellness for Millennial Women

September 25, 2017

If healthcare represents 1/6th of the American economy and 51% of Americans are female, why is the state of women’s health education and wellness still so broken? We believe that technology isn’t just changing the invisible parts of healthcare infrastructure but the “last mile” as well - how millennial women seek, consume and act on the health information needed to make informed decisions about their bodies. This thesis drove our seed investment in Tia, which they announced today.

Who: Cofounders Carolyn Witte and Felicity Yost came together based on a shared vision for what a one-stop-shop for women’s health would look like. They knew it would be by women, for women, and this philosophy - of empowerment, of trust, of choice - would be the foundation of their brand and values. They’d each been part of organizations with very intentional cultures - Carolyn at Google and Felicity at Bridgewater - which helped shaped their thinking about building Tia, not just as a product but as a durable, important company.

What: Tia’s first product is a conversational app (available on iOS) that combines automated intelligent dialogue and human-assisted interactions, in a personal, private and safe environment, to help women get answers to questions about their reproductive and sexual health. Since launching the Tia app in June, there have been over 100,000 conversations initiated by women on the platform.

How: Tia’s data models seek to structure an understanding of each woman to provide trusted expertise but ultimately leave her in control of her health decisions. Over time, Tia’s responses will grow more personalized to each woman’s health history and preferences. Tia also plans to expand into adjacent health and wellness categories of interest to millennial women. Tia’s data models and medical information are overseen by wellness professionals to ensure the quality of answers.

Why: We believe that millennial consumers - and successive generations - are fundamentally different consumers who seek brands that represent their values and who will use technology to interact with these products in an ongoing relationship. To date, Homebrew has made multiple investments against this thesis, for example theSkimm helps make its audience smarter and Chime helps make its customers more financially secure. Tia is helping make its users healthier. We believe each major consumer vertical is going to be rebuilt with millennials, especially millennial women, at the forefront. And we’re proud to partner with Tia as it addresses women’s health and wellness.

If Tia’s mission sounds like one you want to be a part of, they’re hiring engineers and writers here in San Francisco.