Matresa: making maternal healthcare personal
Matresa supports women through their journey to motherhood, from conception through pregnancy and the early months of their baby’s life to new routines that accompany the transition back to work.
National reviews and personal experiences shaping Matresa
Matresa is an AI-powered, human-led maternal health platform, which provides personalised health support through pregnancy and postpartum, up to and including when mothers return to work.
It was founded by Mari-Carmen Sanchez-Morris, a former paediatric intensive care nurse who endured a traumatic birth with her first child. Struggling to get the post-natal support she needed, Mari-Carmen identified a systemic gap in maternal healthcare. Experiences of reactive services and inequitable access left her feeling unsupported at a critical point in her life.
The National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation, which published its interim report in February, and Care Quality Commission (CQC) surveys echoes Mari-Carmen's experience. Women across the country are consistently highlighting challenges with the care they receive, from “psychological trauma and a loss of trust” to “families being disregarded and not listened to during pregnancy and labour.”
There are also disparities amongst different demographic groups, with younger women, women with specific health conditions and women for whom English wasn't their first language experiencing poorer care.
Examination of CQC surveys from the past five years see women expressing the most dissatisfaction with post-natal care, with a postcode lottery in place, meaning women living in deprived areas are more adversely affected. The need to improve post-natal care was also flagged in a recent NHS toolkit.
From pregnancy to parenthood: joined up, personalised support
Matresa complements existing NHS and private care services by extending support beyond appointments.
There can be long gaps between check-ins, with the number of antenatal appointments varying according to the mother’s age and whether it's their first pregnancy.
Post-natally, a check-in at home by a health visitor soon after birth, followed by a GP appointment at 6-8 weeks post-partum is often the only contact new mothers have with healthcare professionals, which can leave some feeling isolated.
Matresa provides personalised daily insights for women navigating pregnancy to parenthood, as well as signposting their baby’s developmental milestones. Structured guidance from conception supports early risk detection and builds up a real-time picture of the mother’s health.
Post partum mental health issues are addressed with personalised risk stratification and integrated telehealth access to psychologists. This has the potential to support timely access and reduce waiting lists for services such as NHS Talking Therapies, where people can typically wait between six to eighteen weeks for an appointment.
One in four mothers returning to work leave employment within a year, meaning businesses are losing out on talent, leadership and expertise. Matresa also helps mothers embarking on a new routine as they transition back to employment feel connected and supported with return-to-work pathways, filling the gap where traditional maternity services fall short.
Developing the platform through co-design
Matresa emerged from an initial business supporting mothers with their post-natal recovery, as Mari-Carmen put co-design and user experience at the heart of the new platform.
A feedback community based in Warwick, for example, ensures that input from mothers, midwives, psychologists, HR leaders and GPs directly shapes the development of Matresa and its functionalities.
A research partnership with Warwick University led to a 4 month feasibility study. It explored postnatal maternal experiences which, with over 400 quantitative responses and interviews with mothers, which will directly inform Matresa.
Elsewhere, an eight-week pilot with one of the ‘Big Four’ professional service firms demonstrated a measurable impact on returning mothers with increases in wellbeing, productivity and energy and mood scores.
How did the Accelerating FemTech: Evaluate programme help Matresa?
Matresa recognised they needed a better understanding of commissioning requirements, procurement processes, and how to develop credible partnerships to support evaluation and adoption.
The Accelerating Femtech: Evaluate programme provided invaluable exposure to NHS stakeholders, innovation leads and evaluation experts. This has led to Matresa building meaningful relationships that are helping to shape their ability to deliver a robust evaluation framework.
Using the learnings from being part of the programme, they are now exploring NHS pilot collaborations and have identified a potential partner for a funding application.
“I would strongly recommend the programme. Its most valuable insight was understanding that innovation success within the NHS depends as much on partnership and pathway alignment as product innovation itself.” Mari-Carmen Sanchez-Morris, Founder
What comes next for Matresa?
Matresa have been awarded £315,000 in a pre-seed round led by SFC Capital, which will fund further product development and clinical validation.
They are introducing a digital postnatal screening and triage tool through their platform, which identifies early physical and psychological risk factors and generates a clinician-ready report ahead of the 6-8 week postnatal GP check.
They are hoping to pilot this with GP surgeries and evaluate the real-world outcomes. The evidence generated will also support their aim of obtaining Class IIa medical device certification.
Any interested GP practices, NHS partners and mothers are invited to join their waiting list to support the next phase of development at www.matresa-app.com.
Matresa is part of Accelerating FemTech: Evaluate. This cohort ran from November 2025 until February 2026.
Accelerating FemTech: Evaluate is an Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator delivered by the Health Innovation Network (HIN) South London, DigitalHealth.London and partners from across the UK.
