Willow Buys Swehl and Momtech to Build a Maternal Care Powerhouse

Willow has acquired two more companies — Swehl, a breastfeeding education and community platform, and Momtech, the maker of Mõmi bottles — as it pushes to become, in CEO Carolin Archibald's words, "a powerhouse maternal care brand."

The deals were announced on Tuesday. They follow Willow's purchase last year of Elvie, one of its biggest wearable pump rivals, which launched in 2018, 20 months after Willow debuted its own in-bra device in 2017.

Archibald took the top job this month after 18 years in the industry, including leadership roles at Medela and Ameda, two incumbent brands entrenched in hospitals for decades. Her strategy rests on a simple diagnosis: Willow cannot build a durable business on a single gadget. "It's difficult to really have a sustainable, long-term future when you're only selling this one device," she says.

How wearables took over the pump market

The category barely existed five years ago. Today, half of mothers choose wearable pumps when the option comes through insurance or retail purchase. "Wearables are what is causing the overall breast pump market to grow," Archibald says.

The shift took a century of groundwork. The first U.S. breast pump patent was filed in 1854, but pumps long remained hospital machinery for mothers who could not breastfeed. Medela introduced a home-use electric pump in 1991. The bigger inflection came in 2012, when the Affordable Care Act required new insurance plans to cover pumps at no cost.

"It opened up a breast pump for every mom who was pregnant," Archibald says.

Willow and Elvie then redefined the hardware: a smooth, teardrop device with no external cords, tubes, or bottles, collecting milk in a spill-proof bag. "Mothers were no longer tethered to a cord or the wall," Archibald says. "It was just so much more freedom." That freedom matters because new mothers can spend up to three hours a day pumping.

Why is Willow buying instead of just building?

One device means one front for attack. Cheaper wearable pumps now crowd the market, including Momcozy, a Shenzhen-based Chinese brand. Some rivals own their factories, which lets them undercut Willow on price.

The competition has turned legal. In August, Willow asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to block imports of pumps it says infringe its patents; the agency opened an investigation involving companies in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the U.S. The fight cuts both ways. This year, a federal patent board sided with Momcozy's manufacturer, Shenzhen Root Innovation Technology Co., and invalidated claims in a Willow-held patent.

The Elvie acquisition consolidated the field. Between them, Willow and Elvie hold a wide range of wearable pump patents. Elvie, based in the U.K., also gave Willow international reach and a line of pelvic floor products.

What do the new acquisitions add?

The economics of pumps are narrow: companies engage a customer for the year or two she breastfeeds, then lose her. Willow wants to sell more into that window.

Swehl, founded by two moms in 2023 with a $1.1 million pre-seed round, brings:

• Access to lactation experts
• Products such as latch kits and nipple care items
• A library of more than 80 breastfeeding videos
• Small-group "Talk Circles" connecting parents at similar stages

Swehl drew public attention with a Times Square ad featuring chef Molly Baz holding lactation cookies over her bra, tagged "Just add milk." Clear Channel, the billboard's owner, pulled the ad after deeming it inappropriate, sparking criticism as unnecessary censorship. Swehl's platform will now anchor a new education and community hub called Willow World.

Momtech covers the other end of feeding. Its flagship Mõmi bottles use soft silicone nipple tips that mimic how a baby consumes breast milk, easing nipple confusion. Mõmi has sold mostly through its own website; Willow plans wider distribution.

Can the strategy outrun demography?

The long-term threat is the shrinking customer base. In 2025, U.S. births fell to about 3.6 million, and the general fertility rate hit a record low, down nearly 23% since 2007.

Archibald is not alarmed yet. The pump market is growing, and Willow, still a small player, can take share from the bigger incumbents. "Mothers are seeking solutions," she says. "We look left and right, and we see opportunities."

She puts a date on the risk. "Ask me in 15, 20 years," she says. "By then, a shrinking pool of new mothers might be more of a real problem for us.