US infant-care start-up Harbor has raised $3.7m in a seed round as it prepares to launch a smart baby monitor that streams with or without internet access.

The idea of Harbor was conceptualised after a personal experience co-founder and CEO Kevin Lavelle, chairman of menswear brand Mizzen+Main, had with a leading baby camera. One morning, Lavelle woke to realise the camera in his infant’s nursery had lost connection to his phone’s app and, upon further research, found that app-based systems cannot be relied upon to be true baby monitors.

Lavelle partnered with co-founder and CPO Charlie Hill to begin a product development cycle to change key attributes that had been overlooked in the infant monitoring space.

Harbor’s baby monitor, launching in May 2024, offers features such as local and remote access that streams with or without internet, a high-quality camera that streams in 2k, data privacy assurance, split-screen capabilities to monitor up to four children, and the Smart Audio alerting system.

The company will also be launching a remote night nanny service, making all night, eyes on expertise and coaching from professionally trained infant experts available to families for a fraction of the cost of traditional night nannies and infant care programmes. This is complemented by additional telehealth services at accessible pricing.

“This investment helps us launch to the world,” said Lavelle. “Our mission is to create happier parents and healthier families, one restful night at a time. We’re democratising access to sleep expertise and improving family wellness. Technology should make our lives better. Today’s solutions increase anxiety in an already overwhelming and difficult time where we should be able to focus on our little ones. Parents and kids deserve a secure, reliable, quality baby monitor and, since none exist, Harbor has built just that.”

Harbor’s remote nanny services will become available for $20/night compared with the traditional $400-$700/night fees. Other telehealth services will include lactation and postpartum counseling, and sleep and wellness coaching. 

The seed round was led by Trust Ventures joined by Morrison Seger and Capital Factory. This follows Trust Ventures pre-seed investment in September 2022. Additional participants for the round include former NFL quarterback Tim and Demi-Leigh Tebow, retired US professional tennis player John and Madison Isner, NFL punter Thomas and Lauren Morstead, and entrepreneurs Sam and Sara Sodine Parr.

“Lauren and I care deeply about raising a happy, healthy family, and we’re thrilled to back what the team at Harbor is doing,” said Thomas Morstead. “We’ve experienced so much raising our kids and know Harbor will make a huge difference for parents everywhere.”

Starting this month, Harbor (harbor.co) will launch a waitlist campaign to offer early access to its device and services.