Website offers AI-powered help for parents, parents-to-be

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This article was published 27/12/2023 (626 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Klaudia and Grant McDonald’s newest baby exists on a screen and is obsessed with pregnancy.

They’ve named it Bobo. It’s their start-up, a product of having two children in three years during a global pandemic.

They envision Bobo displaying goods and local services targeted at users’ stages of pregnancy. An artificial intelligence-powered assistant through parenthood — that’s how they’ve branded the business.

“As a parent… it’s very time consuming to navigate through and find all of the different services available in your area,” Grant said.

“As a parent… it’s very time consuming to navigate through and find all of the different services available in your area.”–Grant McDonald

They’ve launched a website with wares for parents and parents-to-be — think postcards, travel mugs, hats.

Sleep consultants, nutritionists and tutors are next to be added to the list. Through artificial intelligence, Bobo will provide advice tailored to the child’s age and local medical guidelines, among other things, its founders state.

The McDonalds have launched their website. The Bobo app, the real assistant, will come next March or April, they say.

They’re working full-time on the start-up. Both quit their jobs in the tech food delivery industry; they met while working at SkipTheDishes’ parent company.

“We’re the definition of an international family,” Grant remarked.

He’d travel between Winnipeg and London, England while heading Just Eat Takeaway.com’s software delivery.

While in London, he’d liaise with Klaudia, his Polish colleague who lived in the city. They partnered and, a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Klaudia moved to Winnipeg to be with Grant.

She learned she was pregnant in time for lockdowns.

“I am pregnant in another… continent, not in my native language, and my parents cannot come,” Klaudia recalled.

It “wasn’t on the mood board,” she added — she was 26, career driven and didn’t necessarily envision herself as a mother.

She found it hard to be pregnant in a relatively new place without family and friends, aside from Grant’s helpful family, she said.

“We just thought that we don’t want anyone else to be in the same circumstances, especially now when we have such a high degree of immigration,” she said.

She birthed a second child in the United Kingdom in 2021; the entire process is “vastly different,” including when the bulk of doctor’s appointments happen, Klaudia said.

She and Grant pondered ideas and came upon Bobo — a site where users input their pregnancy particulars and get personalized information based on their location and stage of pregnancy.

The start-up plans to take information from relevant health officials like Health Canada.

Bobo will show users applicable vendors depending on their pregnancy stage, like newborn photographers just after birth, the McDonalds outlined.

“We view our platform as a way to empower parents and also support local businesses,” Grant said.

“We view our platform as a way to empower parents and also support local businesses.”–Grant McDonald

Around 25 local vendors have signed on to showcase their wares, he added.

Kalina Denault, a former neighbour of the pair, was the first to join.

“It aligns with everything I do,” said Denault, a maternity and family photographer.

Her first pregnancy came in 2021. She downloaded several pregnancy-related apps to track her phases; they were all based in the United States, she said.

“It is a lot,” Denault added. “As a first-time mom, you have not a hot clue about what is going on.

“Anything that’s going on, you talk to your friends, but they all have different experiences,” she continued. “I love that it’s going to be (all in) one app.”

And she has a targeted audience, she noted. Vendors pay a commission rate to Bobo; the site will be free, but customers can pay monthly for a premium service, Grant said.

The couple was still working out a price schedule by print deadline.

They’re currently working on financing, searching for final angel investors for their pre-seed round, Grant said. They’re trying to raise $500,000.

If the app is successful in Winnipeg, the McDonalds will expand it across Canada and beyond.

“We have a massive, massive soft spot for Winnipeg,” Klaudia said.

It’s also a “mid-tier” market that the couple knows intimately, Grant added.

“AI and parenting is going to clash,” he said. “There’s nothing that anybody can do to stop it. What we want to be doing is participating in that dialogue and creating a safe space.”

Bobo will abide by “the most stringent data protections laws of any market we serve,” Grant said.

App users control what data they share, though relevant information like location and stage of pregnancy is key for Bobo’s services, Klaudia said.

“Privacy is really, really important,” expressed Kelly Fournel, CEO of Tech Manitoba.

Bobo must “reassure their customers that their data is not going to be used against them” she added.

There’s a lack of female tech founders in Manitoba, she said. Tech Manitoba has roughly 200 members; about 10 per cent are owned or co-owned by a woman.

“On any topic in any sector, we definitely want to see more women get involved,” Fournel stated.

It could lead to the creation of products and services not seen before because a different perspective is used, she noted.

“If you want to do something meaningful and you want to do something great, you’ve got to jump in with both feet,” Grant said. “We think we’ll be successful.”

Bobo’s website is found at theboboapp.com.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com