8 Innovative ParentTech Startups Every Parent Should Know

Sandra Sobanska
Parent Labs
Published in
6 min readMar 16, 2018

And how to be one of the first parents to try out their products — for free!

Being one of not-so-many startups in the growing space of parenting technologies (a.k.a. ParentTech) we learned that one of the most important tasks ahead of us is educating the customer.

Be it parents who are more wary of the new tech tools and the negative debate around screen-time; or young, tech-savyy parents who want to test out almost every new app and gadget on the market — we often find that many of them don’t have adequate access to science-based advice on WHICH, WHEN and HOW to use ParentTech.

Hence, we decided to start our series of ParentTech Meetups, where expecting or new parents can connect with experts, technology makers and other tech-savyy families and:

  1. learn how to safely and consciously introduce technology into parenting
  2. discover new and science-based apps and get access to Beta testing groups to provide early feedback for product makers
  3. get access to discounts and special offers on the existing products!

Our first Roadshow is happening in San Francisco tomorrow — if you’re in the Bay Area — please join us for FREE! (RSVP and see a list of special offers here)

For those who cannot attend, we’re putting together this post to help you discover the 8 innovative startups curated for this event!

Aiko & Egor Animation 4 Autism

Aiko and Egor is an animated video series app that uses evidence-based principles to make practicing skills fun for autistic children.

Led by individuals with a strong background in autism intervention and research from University of California San Diego, Aiko & Egor modules are science-based and designed to promote social communication. By using simple animation and language, the app aims to help engage and entertain children with ASD and help them reach developmental milestones.

Aiko & Egor app is available for Android and iPhone users. You can also learn more about how the app works here.

🤓 At the Roadshow: Aiko and Egor will be offering free first module and discount codes on the following ones!

CINEMOOD

Research tells us that exposure to TV and blue-light screen might negatively impact a child’s cognitive and visual development — but critics ask — shall we then ignore the positive effect of watching educational cartoons and movies?

Here comes Cinemood — the recent Indiegogo crowdfunding success and a mini-projector for kids that comes pre-loaded with Disney Family Favorites and can strem content from Netflix and YouTube!

With Cinemood, kids can transform any room in the house into a cinema and parents can reduce the amount of exposure to blue light from phones, iPads and TV sets — while keeping kids entertained!

🤓 At the Roadshow: Cinemood will be offering a special $50 OFF discount and sell the device at $349!

Kinedu

Founded by a Harvard entrepreneur and supported by child development researchers from Stanford, Kinedu is an app for parents that makes the best research on child’s brain development more actionable for parents.

With Kinedu parents can take a short quiz to personalise the intervention that will be recommended for their child and the app comes with a database of 1000+ activities covering Physical, Cognitive, Linguistic, Social and Emotional skills.

The app is available on iOS Android - paid access starts at $6.99/month.

🤓 At the Roadshow: Kinedu will be offering special discounts on their annual membership with access to 1000+ educational activities!

Babynoggin

Babynoggin developed by Qidza is a developmental screening app that works to improve the way that parents report their child’s cognitive development with pediatricians. Based on the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the results are scored, reimbursed, and accessible through the doctor’s EMR system.

Developed by Dr Jin Lin, Oxford-trained child neuro-psychologist and serial entrepreneur, Babynoggin aims to help screen children for delays more effectively by giving health specialists better access to quality developmental data.

🤓 At the Roadshow: Babynoggin will be showcasing their platform — attendees will be among the first ones to try it!

Octopus Watch

Octopus Watch is the first icon-based watch for kids that empowers them to learn good habits and the concept of time — it’s one of the most successful crowdfunding kids projects on Kickstarter so far!

Created by a France-based team, the watch utilises the Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy and helps kids to develop responsibility and self-esteem by helping them to stick to routines through a reward-based system.

See the watch in action here!

🤓 At the Roadshow: Octopus Watch will be offering a 20% OFF discount!

Playfully

Playfully App is an app that started from a real pain-point — led by a Mompreneur and other parents who knew just how challenging quality parenting can be when combined with full-time work and urban lifestyle.

Playfully was developed to make parenting easier by providing daily ideas to engage with children in the “spare moments between food throwing at the dinner table, chasing after them for bath time, and those sweet bedtime snuggles”!

Playfully is one of the latest products in the Roadshow and is currently available on iOS.

🤓 At the Roadshow: Playfully will be offering 1 month and 3 month extended free trials for parents who come over to their booth!

Inceptive

Inceptive is the co-host of the ParentTech Roadshow and the first non-profit organisation participating in the event.

Founded by Purva Gujar —an early childhood education passionate and community builder — Inceptive is an invite-only online community that connects to-be and new parents with child experts and simplifies top insights from the academic research about what makes children develop faster.

Find out more about Inceptive’s resources here.

🤓 At the Roadshow: Attendees will have an exclusive access to join Inceptive’s online community.

Oto by Oyalabs

And lastly, introducing ourselves and our Oto — a smart IoT device that monitors a child’s early language exposure and gives parents access to personalised diagnostic tests and resources in order to optimise their child’s unique brain development path.

Founded by Dr Lamont Tang, a Stanford neuroscientist and a father of two, Oto responds to a problem of lack of monitoring tools for child’s cognitive development — unlike multiple apps for tracking height and growth.

Oto will ba launched later this year — you can join the waitlist here!

🤓 At the Roadshow: Attendees will be able to join closed Beta group and test the prototype of our device for free.

Inspired? We’d love to hear your feedback in comments — what might be the limitations of these tools? Are there other problems that you repeatedly face as a parent which could be solved by Tech?

For those of you in San Francisco, you can still join the Roadshow for FREE — just grab your ticket here!

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Sandra Sobanska
Parent Labs

lost and found — between product, users and business; between East and West. An attentive observer at the fringes and a fighter for technology with Impact.