Quietly, Nooshee, a Raleigh femtech startup looking to develop a smart breast pump for new moms, is raising millions as it works in stealth to develop its first product.
CEO William Brody declined to comment Thursday other than to say "we have a mission of taking care of mom with empathetic, trustworthy tools that don't compromise."
But an SEC filing shows the Raleigh firm has already raised more than $1.8 million of a planned $3.5 million debt round, with 16 investors contributing.
Brody’s LinkedIn profile gives some hints at what Nooshee is working on.
“At Nooshee, we’re developing a new type of breast pump that will drastically improve the postpartum experience for new moms,” he writes in a LinkedIn post earlier this year. Brody wrote that, as the firm works on its product, it’s also building a community of moms. “We can promise that every piece of feedback, input, or story will be put to good use in making this revolutionary new pump.”
And filings with federal authorities hint at a smart breast pump – capable of helping moms track their pumping.
Papers filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show trademarks filed for the word Nooshee's use regarding electronic devices for recording nutritional information of “foods and beverages for feeding infants,” as well as software for organizing that data and sensors to gather biometric information.
“Software for receiving, processing, transmitting, tracking, monitoring, recording and displaying data and data related to the operation of a breast pump,” is also included in the trademark filing, which is pending.
Prior to Nooshee, Brody was managing director at BlueDot Properties and a senior manager at Gilt.com. According to LinkedIn, he started his career as an analyst at Deutsche Bank.
Brody co-founded the company with Laura Haft Brody, an IBM veteran.
Nooshee registered with the N.C. Secretary of State’s Office in April of this year.
According to Grand View Research, the global breast pump market was valued at more than $2.7 billion in 2022.
