Young babies aren’t always in the medically right circumstances to be able to see their mother immediately after labour. And when they grow up, sometimes mothers and fathers alike want a moment for themselves without the baby strapped to one of their chests. Also, these parents probably would like some hours of sleep at night, a concept that most parents know by their clear lack of it. These are all well known problems that parents constantly have to deal with.

The founders of Hugsy, Sylvie Claes (CEO), Jody van den Tillaart (COO) and three other students designed a blanket for babies that saves the unique smell and heartbeat signature of the parents that cuddle the baby. Therefore, they found a possible solution to the problems that were discussed earlier. By using the blanket, babies can sleep feeling the comforting presence of their parents.

This blanket would clearly make the lives of parents easier, but the child also gains a lot from it. Aside from a clear reduction of stress, the baby will also build a better resistance to diseases. Other benefits to the baby are: more sleep, a better bond between the parents and the child, the stimulation of breastfeeding, a better amount of gained weight and concluding, it has a positive influence on the development of the brains.

Through the platform Leapfunder, Hugsy can be made a reality. The startup, which began as a students’ project at the Technical University of Eindhoven, sought a solution to the absence of parents on the Neonatale Intensive Care Unit (NICU). They presented Hugsy at the accelerator programme HighTechXL and started their seed round on Leapfunder shortly after.

So what was the result? After the seed round, Hugsy gained 200.000 euros to develop Hugsy. Sylvie Claes stated the following: “This sum is more than enough to actually develop and sell our product”.

Another interesting statement: “parents and nurses alike await the availability of our smart baby blanket”. This was stated by Claes too. Interestingly enough, Hugsy will be made available in two variants: Hugsy Home and Hugsy Hospital. Hugsy will seemingly be good enough to be implemented in hospitals and it already has been tested in the Maxima Medical Centrum in Veldhoven. Although it will be implemented in hospitals, it wil take longer to develop this variant of Hugsy according to the founders of the startup. In my opinion, the implementation of Hugsy in hospitals will not only help the hospitals, but it will also promote the legitimacy of the product to parents themselves.

Hugsy seems to be a success already, and I certainly agree. The product will make the lives of parents easier and the lives of children better. Hospitals already recognize the potential of the product, and it will only legitimise the product even further in the eyes of parents. Furthermore, maybe parents will even get some time for themselves. Maybe they even will get a good night’s sleep.