Flutter Care is on a mission to advance maternal and fetal care

With no reliable way to collect and share data on maternal mortality in Canada, the company's app and wearable device is a step toward driving change.

Global maternal mortality — death from pregnancy or childbirth complications — is unacceptably high, despite mostly being preventable and treatable. Even in Canada, many questions about these cases remain unanswered as the healthcare system has no reliable way to collect and share data. 

For Dolma Tsundu, the profound impacts of these complications were felt at a young age. As a child, she became aware that her own mother suffered painful complications during delivery. It left Tsundu wondering if her mother’s experience could have been prevented if she had access to tools that support womens’ reproductive health journeys. 

The thought led her to explore new ways to increase access to care while capturing valuable data that informs and improves health outcomes. Tsundu decided to leverage her engineering education and training as a birth doula to come up with a solution for all women — one that would elevate the standard of care they receive and equip them with the knowledge to become strong advocates for their health. That’s when she founded Flutter Care.

“Growing up, I never expected to become an entrepreneur, nor did I aspire to it,” Tsundu tells the Vancouver Tech Journal. “I believe my inclination towards innovation and my desire to make a positive contribution through my work first led me to engineering. Pursuing a technical degree, while also getting involved in my community, exposed me to new ways that this could be possible and taught me how to work in a team.”

Innovative plans

After Tsundu graduated from UBC’s integrated engineering program — where she gained much experience in product creation by co-inventing eight biomedical technologies — it felt like the critical next step in her career was to focus on Flutter Care. The digital health company recently won DEI consulting firm Cap Inclusive’s FemTech Breakfast Club pitch competition. The goal of Flutter Care's products — which include an app on the market and in-development wearable device — is to monitor fetal health remotely to prevent negative health outcomes, by analyzing movement. Research shows the movement of the fetus is a strong indicator of the health of the pregnancy, and Flutter Care's tech means expectant mothers can investigate how their child is developing outside of routine checkups.

"Flutter stands out as a significant advancement in tracking fetal movement, surpassing the traditional method of pen and paper,” highlights Roxanne Leduc, founder and CEO of Cap Inclusive. “While physicians still often recommend manual tracking, Flutter offers a solution that is a hundred times more effective."

The app has a number of features to help women navigate pregnancy and postpartum, like weekly updates to better understand an expectant mother’s body changes and baby’s development, as well as evidence-based resources to help prepare for the childbirth journey. It also makes it easy for women to self-report their fetal movements and identify and track unique patterns — including differences that may indicate fetal distress — and the option to view graphs as a way to quickly recognize changes.

Currently, Flutter is conducting its first on-body study for its wearable device. The patent-pending tech will be able to autonomously measure multiple health metrics and collect data that can be reviewed by parents and their care team. Tsundu says it’s designed to be worn on an expectant mother’s belly and be non-invasive so that it’s comfortable to wear, making it seamless to integrate into daily life.

Making strides

While Flutter is still in its early stages, Tsundu has already been recognized for her progress in advancing maternal and fetal care. The founder has collected several achievements, including the BC Business woman of the year in the innovator category, a listing as a Globe and Mail top 50 changemaker, and winning Startup Canada’s Sustainable Development Goal competition. The company has also made a significant impact and built strong relationships with the communities it serves.

“The appreciation we have received from families for the work we are doing has been really special,” Tsundu shares. “Families who have had difficult experiences such as pregnancy loss especially recognize the importance of the work we are doing. They have been so generous with their time, sharing personal experiences and offering feedback. This comes from a desire to help other families. 

“For us as a team, this is very motivating, and we feel a strong sense of responsibility to honour this.”