Catalyst by Wellstar is investing in Armor Medical to bring maternal care into the future—starting with a wearable device that can detect postpartum hemorrhage before it becomes life-threatening.
We think of childbirth as a celebration, a beginning. But for millions of women each year, it becomes a moment of crisis—and sometimes, a fight to survive.
Every year, 14 million women worldwide experience postpartum hemorrhage (PPH)—a condition where a woman bleeds too much after childbirth. It is the leading cause of maternal death globally, and it doesn’t discriminate by income. Even in the U.S.—the country with the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations—PPH remains a persistent and deadly threat.
But what makes this crisis even harder to accept? Most of these deaths are preventable.
One Woman’s Brush with Death Sparked a Breakthrough
Kelsey Mayo never planned to start a medical device company. But in 2019, her own near-death experience changed everything.
“I had been bleeding internally for nearly 10 hours without knowing it,” she said.
A ruptured ovarian cyst led to emergency surgery, a blood transfusion, and the loss of her right ovary.
“I survived. I almost didn’t,” she continued. “That is something I came through and just said, I must try and do everything possible to get an innovation to market that makes it so nobody has to go through this.”
Today, she is the co-founder and CEO of Armor Medical, a woman-led med-tech startup tackling one of healthcare’s most overlooked crises: maternal hemorrhage.
The Innovation: Real-Time Detection That Could Save Lives
Armor Medical’s answer is Maternal aRMOR—a lightweight wrist-worn device that looks like a smartwatch but does something no watch can. Using light-based sensors and proprietary imaging, it tracks subtle shifts in blood flow under the skin—the earliest physiological signs of hemorrhage.
By monitoring these changes in real time, Maternal aRMOR gives healthcare providers a critical early warning before visual signs appear—when simple interventions are still most effective.
It’s non-invasive.
It’s automation-ready.
It integrates seamlessly into hospital settings.
And it could help prevent thousands of maternal deaths every year.
“Patients can lose a quarter of their blood volume before you even see a change in blood pressure or heart rate,” Mayo said. “We’re diagnosing hemorrhage far too late—and that has to change.”
With clinical trials underway and FDA clearance in sight, the technology is moving rapidly toward market availability—expected by 2026 or 2027.
Catalyst by Wellstar Is Partnering to Make It Happen
As part of our mission to support purpose-driven innovation that improves health outcomes at scale, Catalyst by Wellstar is proud to invest in Armor Medical to accelerate the path forward.
“Catalyst is committed to backing transformative technologies that redefine standards of care,” said Jaimie Clark, Head of Innovation at Catalyst by Wellstar and Director of Innovation and Venture Strategy for Wellstar Health System. “By investing in solutions that enable real-time detection and intervention, we’re not just funding innovation, we are helping save lives, protecting families, and building a safer future for mothers.”
The vision behind Maternal aRMOR also earned early support from Femovate, a pro bono accelerator that provides in-kind research and design services to women’s health startups.
“When we met the founders of Armor Medical in 2022, we were struck by how normalized it has become for women to bleed to death during childbirth, and how reactive the standard of care for postpartum hemorrhage still is,” said Theresa Neil, CEO of Femovate. “Kelsey and Christine shared a vision for a wearable that could detect blood loss earlier, when lives, outcomes, and costs can still be saved—and we were immediately hooked.”
Femovate has supported both Armor Medical and Betty’s Co., now recipients of investment from Catalyst by Wellstar.
Why It Matters: Because Every Minute Counts
Current protocols for diagnosing postpartum hemorrhage rely heavily on visual estimations of blood loss—a process that’s wildly inaccurate and dangerously delayed. Studies show that clinicians underestimate blood loss by 30% to 50%, missing up to 70% of severe PPH cases.
The results are devastating—especially for Black women in the U.S., who are three times more likely to die from PPH than white women, due to systemic inequities in care.
By detecting hemorrhage in its earliest stages, Maternal aRMOR has the power to change that—to turn minutes into second chances.
Looking Ahead
With Catalyst by Wellstar’s backing, the vision behind Maternal aRMOR is already coming to life—because we’re not just investing in innovation. We’re embedding it into real healthcare environments.
“At Wellstar, we are committed to advancing maternal health by embracing innovations that save lives,” said Dr. Paula Greaves, Chief of Women’s Health Service Line for Wellstar Health System. “Postpartum hemorrhage remains one of the leading causes of maternal death, but it’s preventable. By partnering with Armor Medical and supporting their Maternal aRMOR technology, we’re enabling earlier detection and better outcomes for women. This is how we transform care and protect mothers.”
As part of one of Georgia’s largest health systems, Catalyst is uniquely positioned to support solutions like this not just in theory, but in practice. We’re already helping Armor conduct nursing-led, end-user research—a critical step in shaping the future health information systems this technology will integrate with.
When nurses, doctors, and patients are part of the development process from day one, the result is something that actually works: it’s relevant, practical, and truly designed for the frontlines of care.
This is why Catalyst exists. Because the best innovations aren’t built in isolation—they’re built in collaboration with the very people whose lives they touch.
Learn more about Armor Medical.
