Sibyl pilots digital pregnancy loss support with Dutch healthcare providers
Research shows around 1 in 3 women meet criteria for post-traumatic stress following early pregnancy loss
Pregnancy loss support platform Sibyl has partnered with two Dutch healthcare providers to pilot a new model of care designed to support women beyond the clinic appointment.
The company, founded by Melissa Ablett-Jordaan following her own experiences of pregnancy loss, is working with gynaecology clinic Medisch Centrum Wetering and midwifery practice ELLE Midwives to offer women access to a personalised digital companion following miscarriage and other forms of pregnancy loss. The 90-day pilot will track engagement, patient-reported outcomes and preparedness for follow-up appointments.
The partnership marks one of the first attempts to formally integrate a dedicated pregnancy loss support platform into routine care pathways in the Netherlands.
For Melissa, the idea emerged after experiencing first-hand how little support many women receive once the immediate clinical aspects of pregnancy loss have been addressed.
“You have the medical care for pregnancy loss, which is usually pretty standard, and then you’re just kind of left on your own,” she told FutureFemHealth.
“It’s low clinical acuity, but very high emotional acuity.”
Beyond the clinic
Research from Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research has found that around one in three women meet the criteria for post-traumatic stress in the weeks following early pregnancy loss, while around one in six continue to experience symptoms nine months later. The Lancet’s Miscarriage Matters series has also called for urgent reform of miscarriage care.
Sibyl combines personalised information about different types of pregnancy loss with digital mental health exercises and a conversational support tool designed to answer questions between appointments.
“It tends to be this quiet thing you deal with at 3am,” said Melissa.
“People don’t necessarily feel mentally sick enough to seek formal mental health support, but they still need somewhere to turn.”
And while digital tools have become commonplace across fertility, pregnancy and women’s health, pregnancy loss remains relatively underserved.
“Most apps and services just kind of say, ‘come back to us when you’re pregnant again’,” she said.
That gap appears to be resonating with healthcare providers. Under the pilot, clinicians introduce the app at the point a loss is diagnosed, giving women access to support during the days, weeks and months that follow.
Beyond patient support, the project also aims to generate evidence around whether digital interventions can improve longer-term outcomes.
Users are surveyed after one and six weeks using the Reproductive Grief Scale, helping researchers understand whether personalised support can reduce distress and improve engagement with ongoing care.
Melissa points to research suggesting mental health challenges are a significant factor in fertility treatment drop-out, creating downstream consequences for patients, providers and employers alike.
The project will also generate new data on an experience that often disappears from view. “The first thing you do after you have a miscarriage is you delete your pregnancy tracking app,” she said. Sibyl hopes the pilot will help build a better understanding of women’s experiences after pregnancy loss and where additional support can have the greatest impact.
A growing opportunity in women’s health
While the company’s first partnerships are with midwives and gynaecologists, Melissa sees applications across a much broader ecosystem. Sibyl is already in discussions with fertility clinics, pregnancy tracking apps, women’s health and fertility benefits platforms, and healthcare providers looking for ways to better support women between appointments.
“We’re hearing from midwives, gynaecologists and OB-GYNs who say, ‘if I had better tools, I would 100% use them. I just don’t have them’,” she said.
This is echoed by early testers in the project. Dr S Mahesh, a gynaecologist at Medisch Centrum Wetering said:
“We see patients every day who receive excellent clinical care but leave without ongoing support for what comes next. Pregnancy loss doesn’t end when the appointment does - and we know that. Partnering with Sibyl gives us a way to extend care beyond what we can provide within the clinic walls.”
Looking ahead
To date, Sibyl has raised close to $200,000 in a friends-and-family round, completed a closed beta with more than 100 women and was selected as an observer in the Springboard Women’s Health Accelerator. Around 85% of women who signed up went on to download and start using the app.
The company plans to launch a direct-to-consumer version of the app later this summer, initially through a subscription model, while continuing to explore partnerships across the reproductive health landscape.
The commercial opportunity reflects a broader gap in women’s health. For providers, employers and digital health platforms, there is an important unmet need to support women during a period that sits between clinical appointments, but can have lasting consequences for mental health, treatment adherence and future reproductive care.