Ariadne Labs incubates and spins out Unravel Healthcare Inc., a new independent organization advancing our shared mission to improve childbirth care everywhere
Ariadne Labs is proud to announce the launch of Unravel Healthcare, Inc., a mission-driven, for-profit organization dedicated to scaling TeamBirth. TeamBirth is a breakthrough solution designed to ensure every family experiences safe, dignified care during childbirth.
Unravel Healthcare marks a new phase in Ariadne Labs’ evolution as an innovation engine: one that not only designs and tests scalable solutions but also pioneers new models to bring those solutions to scale in the world.
“Unravel Healthcare represents the next chapter in Ariadne Labs’ mission to design solutions that reach every patient, everywhere,” said Ariadne Labs Executive Director, Asaf Bitton, MD, MPH. “As TeamBirth gained national and international momentum, we saw the need for a new kind of partner dedicated entirely to implementation at scale. By incubating and spinning out Unravel Healthcare, we’re showing that innovation doesn’t stop at design and testing. This is about being agile, responsive, and bold in how we translate evidence into real-world impact.”
From Spark to Spinout: The Journey of TeamBirth
TeamBirth began in 2017 at Ariadne Labs as a unique, early-stage idea supported by an Ariadne Labs Spark Grant. Built using a human-centered design approach, the solution was developed in close partnership with clinicians and patients to address widespread issues in maternal care, including poor communication, lack of shared decision-making, and disrespect during labor.
By 2019, a successful pilot at four clinical sites in the U.S. validated TeamBirth’s effectiveness in improving teamwork and communication. Since then, the model has been adopted by more than 200 hospitals across the United States and Sweden, touching more than 430 million patient lives and setting a new global standard for maternal and neonatal care.
This exponential growth revealed the urgent need for a dedicated organization to support and accelerate implementation on the ground. That need inspired the formation of Unravel Healthcare in 2024—a for-profit company financially independent of Ariadne Labs, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
“TeamBirth was born out of a deep belief that every person giving birth deserves to feel safe, heard, and respected. At Ariadne Labs, we proved that better communication and teamwork can transform care. With the launch of Unravel Healthcare, we now have the opportunity to take that vision further, faster—bringing the power of TeamBirth to more hospitals and more families. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built together and excited to lead this next chapter,” said Amber Weiseth, Founder and CEO of Unravel Healthcare and Director of TeamBirth at Ariadne Labs.
An Innovation Ecosystem for Greater Impact
While Unravel Healthcare leads frontline implementation of TeamBirth, Ariadne Labs will continue to serve as the research and development hub, designing, testing, and refining open source solutions to improve the safety and experience of maternal health care across the continuum, from prenatal care to postpartum. These innovations will be used by Unravel Healthcare, creating a powerful ecosystem where evidence-based ideas move swiftly from lab to birth facility.
This model of spinning out solutions into independent entities reflects Ariadne Labs’ nimble and adaptive approach to scaling impact. To amplify its impact, the Lab focuses on designing and proving what works, then partnering with the right organizations to bring those solutions to life at scale.
Why It Matters
The U.S. maternal mortality rate has been on the rise for decades. People giving birth today are 50% more likely to die during childbirth than their own mothers — three times greater if they are Black or Native. Many more face long-term complications as a result of their birth experiences. Too often, these tragedies are avoidable. Failures in communication account for up to 90% of preventable injuries during childbirth. A CDC report found that 1 in 5 birthing patients experience mistreatment—such as neglect, verbal abuse, or lack of privacy—with rates rising to 30% for Black, Hispanic, and Multiracial women. Nearly half of patients held back concerns or questions, underscoring how improving communication, teamwork, and shared decision-making is critical to reducing maternal harm.
TeamBirth directly addresses these issues by improving teamwork, communication, and shared decision-making throughout the childbirth journey. With Unravel Healthcare now leading implementation, even more hospitals—and families—will benefit.
Looking Ahead
With the launch of Unravel Healthcare, Ariadne Labs is charting a bold course for the future of health systems innovation. It’s a future where tested solutions move more quickly to scale, and where the Lab continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in health care, at home and around the world.
Stay tuned for more updates as Unravel Healthcare begins its next phase of growth and continues the critical work of transforming childbirth care—one hospital, one family, one birth at a time.