Seattle startup Trellis Health launches to help women navigate pregnancy and postpartum care

GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory .
(Trellis Health Image)
Trellis Health released its iOS app on Tuesday as the Seattle-based health tech startup aims to use AI and personalized data to improve healthcare for women.
Founded in 2022, Trellis' software provides recommendations, insights, and tracking based on personal medical records and guidance from doctors and maternity specialists. It is focusing on pregnancy and postpartum care.
Trellis CEO and co-founder Estelle Giraud is a scientist and a former senior manager at biotech giant Illumina. She co-founded Trellis with Ryan Nabat, a former engineer at BlueOwl, Spect, and Virta Health.
The company is aiming to address what it describes as 'glaring gaps in women's health' and replace late-night Google searches.
'We're building the foundation for generational, proactive consumer health with a private and secure digital health platform that uses AI to translate years of your health context into actionable, intelligent insights paired with innovative care solutions,' Giraud said in a statement last month.
The company does not take insurance and charges an annual subscription fee of $96. It is partnering with Milkwise to provide digital lactation consulting, and Mavida for mental health support.
Trellis was recently featured in GeekWire's startup radar series and announced a $1.8 million seed round last month. It participated in the Techstars Seattle accelerator in 2023.
Investors include Palette Ventures, NEXTBLUE, Suncoast Ventures, Sundial Foundation, and Swizzle Ventures, which has Seattle-area roots.
Earlier this month the company added six medical professionals to an advisory board.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Chicago Tribune

an hour ago

• Chicago Tribune

Weber Grill Restaurant to be first tenant in Orland Park downtown development

Weber Grill Restaurant will open a location in Orland Park next year, becoming the first tenant announced for the village's downtown development project northwest of La Grange Road and 143rd Street. The company is owned by the same family that makes the grills, which are used to prepare meals at the restaurants. Weber Grill will build an 8,500-square-foot space at the southwest corner of La Grange and 142nd Street, said Ramzi Hassan, president of Edwards Realty Co. Orland Park-based Edwards was selected by the village to develop that has been called the Main Street Triangle project. 'This is exactly the type of tenant we envisioned when we first imagined downtown Orland Park,' Hassan said in a news release announcing the restaurant's plans. 'Weber Grill represents a high-quality, experience-driven restaurant that aligns perfectly with our vision to create a dynamic, walkable destination for the community.' Planned to open next spring, the restaurant will feature indoor and outdoor seating, as well as a hands-on cooking school offering both public and private cooking classes, according to Weber Grill Restaurants. The company also has restaurants in downtown Chicago and suburban locations in Lombard and Schaumburg. 'We're thrilled to bring the unique Weber Grill experience to the new downtown Orland Park,' Jon Crost, chief operating officer of Weber Grill Restaurants, said in a news release. 'This location allows us to connect with a vibrant and growing community while being part of a visionary redevelopment that emphasizes both quality and community.' Hassan said Friday that Weber 'is a really good brand that's a household name,' and its decision to open in Orland Park could attract other tenants. He said that Weber was looking to the Orland Park market for a restaurant, but 'they were more interested in the type of development they are joining.' 'They had to find the right fit,' Hassan said. He said Edwards has been very selective about the users and businesses coming in to the development, and said the Weber Grill Restaurant could be destination drawing customers from beyond the Orland Park area. 'It's not like they have 300 restaurants all over the country,' Hassan said. Edwards plans to develop more than 140,000 square feet of entertainment, retail and office space. No residential space is planned. An expansion of Crescent Park, to be renamed Heroes Park, is included, and what is now a stormwater detention pond in the northeast corner of the triangle would be enhanced with fountains. The company and village held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the downtown project in March. Edwards owns and operates Orland Park Crossing, a retail center northeast of La Grange and 143rd, directly to the east of the downtown development. The downtown development would be situated around the Ninety7Fifty on the Park apartments, University of Chicago Medicine Center for Advanced Care, a parking garage and the 143rd Street Metra station. Hassan said he expects Edwards to break ground in spring on space for a second tenant, which would be on a site west of La Grange on the south side of 142nd.

CNET

2 hours ago

• CNET

Every Parent Should Know These 3 iPhone and iPad Parental Controls

As a parent of three young kids with limited screen time, the prospect of handing them their very own iPad or iPhone sends me into an anxiety-induced spiral. The prospect of having to micromanage screen time (and the overstimulated meltdowns that follow), plus trying to protect them on social media and against all the other horrors lurking online, is enough to make me want to swear off screens altogether. But I'm also a realist and know I can't fend off screens forever. In fact, their peak device years are just ahead. So when that time comes, I want to be prepared with all the tools. Fortunately, Apple already has a surprising number (at least to me) of guardrails and parental controls in place, with features like child accounts, screen time settings, and communication limits that help parents create safer digital environments. And there's more on the way. Apple's latest tools, rolling out to the iPhone and iPad with iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 respectively, help parents set age-appropriate content filters, monitor app use, limit communication, and even blur explicit images before they appear on-screen. Here's how to find them, set them up and feel more confident handing over that screen to your kids -- no matter what age they are. Setting up a child account: The key to unlocking parental controls The first step to unlocking parental controls is setting up a child account from either your own iPad/iPhone or directly in your child's. Josh Miller/CNET Setting up a child account is the key that unlocks all these great parental control features so if you haven't already, make sure you do this first. Apple lets you create a dedicated child account for an iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch, giving parents full control over settings remotely through their own device. If it's a shared iPhone or iPad, you'll need to choose between setting it up as an adult or child account -- unlike an Apple TV, there's no multi-user option. Starting in September, iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 will also let you convert an existing device into a child account without needing to reset it -- meaning you can keep whatever content that you already have on your Apple device. Step-by-step: Creating a child account from your own iPhone or iPad. Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET There are three ways to set up a child account on a new device: The first (and simplest) is using your own device. As soon as you bring the two devices close together, setup instructions should automatically appear on screen using Quick Start. If you're not using Quick Start, you can still set it up directly on the new device. Just choose Set Up Without Another Device and follow the on-screen instructions. If you're setting up a device for a child age 12 or younger, it must be linked to your adult account. You can also create a child account in advance, even without the child's device nearby. Go to Settings > [your name] > Family, then tap the Add User icon in the top right corner. Select Create Child Account and follow the prompts. Screen Time: the command center for parental controls Parents can remotely manage everything from screen time limits to content restrictions and even who their child can communicate with on their Apple devices. When you create a child account, you'll be asked to select an age range: 12 or younger or 13–17. This automatically sets baseline filters for content and services but you can fine-tune things even more through the Screen Time settings on your own device. From here, you can manage what your child watches, how long they use their device and who they can communicate with (among many others). To access Screen Time controls, go to Settings > Family, tap on your child's name and select Screen Time. Screen Time settings on your child's account act as your personal control center for setting limits and guardrails to create a safer digital environment. Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET Once you're in, here's everything you can take charge of: Downtime: Schedule breaks from screen time. You can schedule specific times and days when your kid won't have access to certain apps (determine which ones in the Always Allowed section) or choose to block the devices entirely. They'll get a five minute heads up when downtime is coming. Always Allowed: Choose which apps and contacts your child can access and at what time. Screen Distance: Alerts your child when they're holding the device too close to their face to help protect their still maturing eyesight. Communication Limits: Sets detailed rules about who your child can contact and when. For example, you can allow calls from parents or emergency contacts during Downtime , even when everything else is blocked. Communication Safety: Detects nudity in photos before they're sent or received and alerts your child, offering a moment to pause and consider whether they want to view. This one's a no brainer and one you'll want to keep on at all times. It also suggests age-appropriate resources to inform the child without Apple ever seeing the content. Content & Privacy Restrictions: Micromanage purchases and downloads. You choose whether or not your kid can download and purchase apps, and then restrict in-app purchases for the ones they have access to, or block access to the App Store altogether. You can also disable features like AirDrop under Allowed Apps & Features . App Store, Media, Web & Games: Set age-based ratings restrictions for everything from TV shows and movies to games, books and apps (anything from G to NC-17, or the equivalent). You can even block music videos or restrict private messaging in games to prevent sneaky workarounds with unapproved contacts. Managing Screen Time: Receive an alert if your child enters the Screen Time passcode so if they've guessed it, you'll know. This is part of iOS 26 and will be available this fall. In the meantime you can still change the code remotely if you suspect they've cracked the code, without needing access to your child's device. Beyond that, you'll find options to manage which subscriptions your child can access, and whether they can send and receive Apple Cash, or remove the option entirely from the menu. Location Sharing: Get a heads-up about your child's whereabouts in real time You can set up location-based alerts for you child on their Apple Watch, iPhone or iPad to know exactly when they've arrived or left school. Vanessa Hand Orellana / CNET Whether it's an iPhone, Apple Watch or even an iPad, one of the biggest benefits of giving your child their own device is being able to keep a watchful eye on their whereabouts (just make sure they know about it too). Not only can you check where they are, you can also set alerts to notify you when they've arrived at or left a specific location. You'll find the Location Sharing option under your child's profile in your Family account settings (it's the last option on the list). From here you can block your kid from changing their location settings, but to take full advantage of the feature, you'll want to jump into the Find My app. You can access location controls from your child's account, but alerts will have to be set up directly on the Find My app on your iPhone or iPad. Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET Once you open Find My, tap on your child's name to see their location. Next, swipe up to reveal the full menu, tap Add Notification > Notify Me. From here, you can choose to get alerts when your child arrives at or leaves a certain location like home, school or a friend's house. Tap New Location to enter an address manually or tap the screen to drop a pin on the map. You can choose whether to receive the alert just once or every time they come and go. Want to return the favor? Tap Notify [your kid's name], and follow the same steps. Your phone will automatically let your child know when you've arrived or left a designated location too. The exact settings may vary slightly depending on the age range you choose but the core controls remain the same. With iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, Apple is adding even more granular parental tools. The nudity filters will be expanded to FaceTime (and potentially third-party apps), you'll get alerts when your child enters a Screen Time passcode and you'll be able to revoke app permissions remotely even after your child has already started using the app. There are already enough things to worry about as a parent (especially with online risks), but hopefully, these features will help take at least one worry off your plate. Just remember that even the best tech tools aren't a substitute for in-person guidance from a parent or caregiver. When introducing screens to kids, make sure you're having age appropriate conversations about online safety and helping them build healthy screen time habits of their own.

San Francisco Chronicle​

3 hours ago

• San Francisco Chronicle​

California insurance crisis could have dire consequences for affordable housing

Insurance bills have always been on the high side for Episcopal Community Services, a San Francisco nonprofit that operates more than 2,000 units of permanent supportive housing and serves a population insurers deem risky. But over the past few years, ECS has seen insurance costs skyrocket. Its premiums rose 84% last year, on top of 10% and 15% increases the previous two years. At the same time, ECS' deductibles quadrupled last year and reached $100,000 for some properties, forcing ECS to cover most of its own claims. Those rising costs were a factor in ECS' decision to lay off six employees this year, and staff members fear that continued increases could jeopardize essential but expensive ECS services, like the homeless shelter it operates or the seven hotels it leases for supportive housing. 'If we're gonna continue to operate the housing, we have to pay the insurance,' said Chris Callandrillo, ECS' chief program officer. 'We've got to get that from somewhere, and that burden is huge.' Across California, affordable housing developers say they're being squeezed by ever-rising premiums, increasingly convoluted coverage arrangements and deductibles so high that they're self-insuring for all but the most catastrophic losses. Advocates are pushing the federal government for relief in the form of subsidies for risk mitigation or the creation of a federally backed insurance product, but few solutions appear likely in the short term. According to an analysis of over 130 California properties financed by a key federal low-income tax credit and included in the national nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners' portfolio, median annual per-unit insurance expenses increased 142% from 2019 to 2024, from $409 to $989. From 2022 to 2024, some California affordable developers reported insurance expense increases as high as 500%. Without intervention, affordable housing providers say, these ballooning costs could force cuts to staffing or on-site services and imperil future projects at a time when demand for affordable units is as high as ever. The problem goes far beyond the affordable housing sector; statewide, insurers have sought perennial rate hikes, nonrenewed customers or ceased writing new policies as they grapple with wildfire-fueled losses and high construction costs. But over the past few years, insurance costs for affordable housing developments have been about 25% higher than for market rate developments in the same areas, said Jordann Coleman, senior vice president at Walnut Creek-based Heffernan Insurance Brokers, whose client base is 40% affordable housing. And affordable housing developers say they're especially vulnerable because they're already operating on razor-thin margins — and because unlike for their market-rate counterparts, the law limits their ability to pass on costs to tenants. 'Somebody's got to come up with a way to pay for that, and for us, it can't be rent,' said Linda Mandolini, CEO of Eden Housing, a Hayward developer with dozens of Bay Area affordable housing complexes. The amount Eden Housing has paid for insurance has risen every year since 2018, including a 20% jump this year on top of a 28% jump the previous year. Insurers have long considered affordable housing riskier to underwrite than market-rate housing — especially permanent supportive housing, where formerly homeless residents less used to living inside can spark fires or cause damage. But developers say insurance costs are out of step with claims, and they don't seem to take into account efforts to mitigate risks — such as hiring more security or replacing gas stoves with electric ones — or how affordable complexes can make neighborhoods safer and spur economic development over time. One insurer that writes policies for affordable housing developers declined to comment on its rationale for increasing premiums and deductibles, and another insurer did not respond to a request for comment. Before around 2020, it was possible to find a single insurer willing to underwrite an affordable housing provider's whole portfolio of properties, Coleman said. Now, she's sometimes working with up to 12 different insurers to piece together more scant coverage with higher deductibles — and each insurer has its own set of questions and restrictions. Coleman said she is increasingly reliant on more complicated risk-sharing arrangements, such as 'insurance towers' — Jenga-like stacks of policies where different insurers underwrite fractions of a single property (one of ECS' properties is underwritten by six insurers, Callandrillo said). In cases where clients have preexisting contracts that require lower deductibles than insurers are willing to grant, Coleman has also turned to deductible buy-down policies — additional coverage from a separate insurer that pays the difference in the case of a claim. 'The work is exponential, not just for us, but for our clients as well,' Coleman said. These days, it's rare that she has more than one option to offer a client. Most affordable developers are already working on shoestring budgets stretched thin by rising construction costs and still recovering from lower revenue from tenants who got out of the habit of paying rent during COVID-19. Because most expenses are nonnegotiables, such as payroll and maintenance, keeping up with insurance payments can mean dipping into funds earmarked for longer term projects. 'This is really depleting our property level reserve, our rainy day fund,' said Janelle Chan, CEO of East Bay Asian Local Development Corp., which has developed about 2,500 affordable units in Oakland. The nonprofit has diverted $12 million from its reserves over the last few years to pay for property expenses including insurance, increased utility costs and rent collection deficits, she said. As part of belt-tightening measures, the East Bay Asian Local Development Corp. is considering cutting community programming or stripping nice-to-have features from planned projects, Chan said. But if premiums stay high, affordable developers say, future projects could be in jeopardy if insurance — a prerequisite for securing loans — is just too expensive, or if developers' reserves have been too depleted to buy properties in the first place. 'We might have to put stuff on hold,' Mandolini said. Among Eden Housing's pipeline of 4,500 planned affordable homes is a complex for seniors at risk of homelessness in San Jose, converting the former Richmond Health Center into dozens of units of permanent supportive housing, and a 119-unit Liberation Park intended to revitalize a historically Black neighborhood in East Oakland. There's another even more serious risk: If mounting expenses cause developers to default, foreclosure can wipe out a property's low-income housing use designation — a more permanent setback for constructing affordable units. 'That's just a critical loss that can't be allowed to happen,' said Thom Amdur, senior vice president for policy and impact at Lincoln Avenue Capital, which invests in affordable housing across the country. Delays or defaults could threaten the region's ability to meet its housing goals. The Bay Area is required to plan to build close to 450,000 new units by 2031, of which 40% should be allocated for low- or very low-income residents, according to the state's Regional Housing Needs Determination. Affordable developers want the government to step in, either by subsidizing risk mitigation efforts or by stabilizing the insurance market through creating a federally backstopped insurance product or expanding FAIR plans — state-created insurers of last resort, such as the one in California — to cover more affordable housing. California lawmakers are considering a bill, AB1339, that would require the Department of Insurance to conduct a study on barriers to affordable housing insurance statewide. For now, developers continue to feel the squeeze. 'We're being asked to build more, and yet we are struggling to protect what we have,' Chan said. 'The candle's burning at both ends.'