Funding profile · Maternal health services

Malama Health

A Medicaid-first maternal care company that announced a $9.2 million seed round in March 2026. The SEC filing behind it, made two weeks earlier, reports $5,315,000 of equity sold to 15 investors. The rest of the headline is grant money.

$9.2MSeed round as announced, March 2026, company-reported
$5.32MEquity sold, offering fully subscribed, Form D
$1.45MNIH obligated through FY2026, of an award published as $2.3M to $2.4M
$354KAverage per investor across 15 investors

Data as of September 22, 2026. Company-reported figures are labeled.

Rounds at a glance

When Round Amount Investors Source
2022 YC Summer 2022; Alpine Social Ventures fellowship; pre-seed angels Not disclosed Y Combinator, Alpine Investors, angels Company and YC
FY2025 to FY2028 NIH SBIR Fast Track R44MD021154 $1,450,931 obligated to date NIMHD NIH RePORTER
Feb 11, 2026 Seed, first sale $5,315,000 offered and sold 15 investors Form D
Mar 12, 2026 Seed, as announced $9.2M including grants Led by Acumen America; Wisdom Ventures, Capital F, Coyote Ventures Company release
Stated with the round California state funding $900,000 in company materials; “more than $1 million” on the wire Not named Figures disagree

What the filings show

Malama Health, Inc. · Form D · filed Feb 26, 2026

First sale
Feb 11, 2026
Offered
$5,315,000 equity
Sold
$5,315,000 · $0 remaining
Investors
15 · average about $354,333
Exemption
Rule 506(b) · no non-accredited investors
Issuer
Delaware corporation, incorporated 2022, San Francisco · revenue range: decline to disclose
Related persons
Meihua Eddy (chief executive officer, director); Zongsheng Li (chief technology officer, director); Veenu Aulakh (director)
Filing
SEC EDGAR, CIK 0002113045

Reading the filings

  1. The announced number and the filed number differ.Take the company’s own components: $5,315,000 of equity plus a $2.3 million NIH grant plus $900,000 of California funding is $8,515,000, about $685,000 short of $9.2 million. Use the larger published versions, $2.4 million and $1 million, and it is $8,715,000, still about $485,000 short. No amended Form D closes the gap.
  2. Roughly 58 percent of the headline is priced equity.$5,315,000 of $9,200,000 is 57.8 percent. The remainder is non-dilutive federal and state money, which is favorable for the founders and unusual to fold into a single round number.
  3. The grant on the books is smaller than the grant in the press.NIH records $313,955 in FY2025 and $1,136,976 in FY2026 against R44MD021154, or $1,450,931. The award runs to March 2028, so the published totals may describe the ceiling. Today the recorded figure is 63 percent of the smaller one.
  4. The offering closed at exactly the amount sold.Offered and sold are both $5,315,000, with nothing remaining. Issuers usually register above what has closed. Filing at the closed amount fits the word “oversubscribed” in the release.
  5. Check size points to funds, not a crowd.$5,315,000 across 15 investors averages about $354,333, consistent with four venture firms plus rolled-in angels rather than a syndicate of small checks.
  6. The lead investor’s board seat appeared before the press release.Veenu Aulakh of Acumen America is listed as a director of the issuer on the February 26 filing, fourteen days before the March 12 announcement. The board of record is three people: two co-founders and the lead investor.
  7. Nothing was filed before 2026.The company ran through YC in 2022 and raised a pre-seed with no Form D under its CIK. Offerings under Section 4(a)(2) require none, so the absence is not evidence that no money moved.

Commercial signals

Signal Detail Source type
Revenue model Billed to Medicaid managed care plans for doula-led navigation, remote monitoring and postpartum support, free to patients. Company-stated
Markets In-network in California, Texas and Colorado as of March 2026. Colorado launched November 2025 through Malama Medical Group. Company-stated
Third-party listing findhelp.org carries a claimed Malama program for California Medicaid members, last reviewed Sep 17, 2026. Public record
Clinical evidence NCT05597943 at Tufts Medical Center: 30 participants, completed Feb 2025, no results posted, no PubMed publication. No FDA records, and none required. Public record
Outcomes marketing Two company outcome sets three months apart disagree on cohort size and on every effect size. Figures disagree

What to watch

  • A new or amended Form D reconciling $5,315,000 of equity with a $9.2 million headline.
  • Later NIH obligations against R44MD021154.
  • Posted results or a publication from NCT05597943.
  • A named health plan contract, and whether 2026 hiring in Hawaii, Michigan and New York becomes signed Medicaid markets.

The Malama Health story on Healthcare DiscoveryHealthcare Discovery

Related companies

  • LunaJoy Health: Similar focus. A telehealth company built by two physicians to close the gap between a positive mental health screening and actual treatment for women
  • Elythea: Similar focus. A Y Combinator company that set out to flag life threatening pregnancy complications at the first prenatal visit, and now sells voice AI outreach to Medicaid and
  • Fortuna Health: Similar focus. A consumer app for getting onto Medicaid and staying on it, paid for by the hospitals and health plans that lose money when coverage lapses
  • Breathe Well-being: Similar focus. A New Delhi area program that coaches people with Type 2 diabetes off medication by phone and through a mobile app

Sources

  1. Public recordForm D, Malama Health, Inc., CIK 0002113045SEC · Feb 26, 2026
  2. Public recordNIH RePORTER R44MD021154NIMHD · FY2025 and FY2026
  3. Public recordClinicalTrials.gov NCT05597943Tufts Medical Center · Apr 23, 2025
  4. Public recordDoula-Led Care Navigation program listingfindhelp.org · Sep 17, 2026
  5. IndependentDoula-Led Care Is The Future Of Maternal HealthForbes · Jun 8, 2026
  6. IndependentMalama Health Secures $9.2MHIT Consultant · Mar 12, 2026
  7. InvestorWhy we invested in MalamaAcumen America · Mar 11, 2026
  8. CompanySeed round announcementEIN Presswire · Mar 12, 2026
  9. CompanyFounder letter on the seed roundMalama Health · Mar 12, 2026

Compiled from SEC, NIH and other public records and published reports as of September 22, 2026. Form D notices report offerings under Regulation D; amounts reflect the filing date and may not capture later sales. Healthcare Venture Capital Fund holds no position in Malama Health. This page is not an offer to sell or a recommendation to buy any security.