ESCONDIDO – Feeding a baby as a new parent can be a uniquely challenging task, said Babba co-founder and CEO Dan Evans.
When parents are on-the-go, they have to get creative. Evans said this usually means toting around a cooler bag with ice packs to preserve breast milk.
“And then you have to figure out how to warm it,” Evans said. “Which usually entails going inside a Starbucks, asking for hot water and then dunking the bottle inside.”
As Evans and his wife Chelsey Evans — co-founder of Babba and San Diego travel influencer by the name of Chelsey Explores — prepared for their first child, Landon Evans, the heating and cooling of breast milk presented a logistical hurdle.
Around the same time, Evans had just sold his first company, RecoverX. Co-founded by Evans in 2016, the technology company created the world’s first battery powered icepack and heating pad. In 2021, RecoverX was acquired by HyperIce, and is now used by athletes like Patrick Mahomes, Christian McCaffery, Jayson Tatum and Robin Arzon.
“My wife came up the idea, ‘Why don’t you use the same technology for baby bottles?’” Evans said.
And so, Babba was born. In 2022, the couple established the company and began research and development for the all-in-one heating and cooling technology.
The product features an insulates stainless steel bottle that attaches to a base with a cooling an warming plate to control the milk’s temperature.
“We’re world’s only first and only baby bottle cooler and warmer,” Evans said. “Every warmer you’ve seen uses heated coil technology to warm milk, and every cooler you’ve seen uses ice in some sort of way. A lot of parents have those products. Now, we’re saying, ‘Instead of buying two individual products — one that cools, one that warms — buy Babba.’”
Applying Tech to Universal Dilemma
After an official public launch in 2025, Babba recorded over $100,000 in sales during its first year. Evans said that sales are predominantly from Babba’s online direct-to-consumer interface. The product is also available at baby boutiques, Amazon, online at Walmart and will be online at Target later this year.
Eventually, Evans hopes Babba can be sold in person at Target.
“That’s our dream,” Evans said. “It’s the best fit for where the product should sit.”
While Babba was originally designed to suit the Evans’ on-the-go lifestyle, they found that the product largely appeals to parents looking for convenience during night feedings.
Babba’s technology allows for heating and cooling to take place at the bedside within minutes.
The product can be controlled through Bluetooth connection on the Babba app, enabling parents to cool or warm milk directly from their phone. Parents can even set timers throughout the night to schedule when the milk reaches certain temperatures.
“There’s zero prep work,” Evans said. “You just take it off the device, attach a nipple and you’re good to go to feed your child.”
Babba contracts with Los Angeles-based manufacturing company Esino for production. Evans said the product is assembled at Esino’s facilities in Asia.
Scaling Operations
A few hundred thousand dollars were invested in Babba’s startup costs, supported by a friend and family fundraising round, Evans said. As 2026 commences, Evans said Babba is considering raising venture capital in early Q1.
The goal of Babba’s next fundraising round, Evans said, is to hire a few additional full-time employees.
Evans said the San Diego market has been an excellent startup network. Babba participated in the San Diego-based technology accelerator Techstars for early support.
In its first year, Babba has shipped over 1,000 units and is growing each quarter, Evans said.
“Each quarter, we’re selling a lot more than the previous one,” Evans said. “We are growing fast… That’s why we feel we’re in a really good position to raise this [venture capital] round — we are now post-revenue. The curve is exciting, and we’re no longer in that pre-revenue startup stage.”
Babba is continuing to innovate this year by developing adapters for major breast milk pumps and non-Babba bottle nipples. The company is also developing an adapter so that users can charge the system in their cars.
“Our first child was the inspiration behind it,” Evans said. “It quite awesome to take a bottle, cool it down, warm it up and then feed that bottle to our second baby, Decker [Evans]. Many founders create products to solve their own problems, but for us to be able to directly use it with our own family to make our own lives easier, and then to see other families have it benefit their lives — it’s been really special.”
Babba
FOUNDED: 2022
CEO: Dan Evans
HEADQUARTERS: Escondido
BUSINESS: Baby Tech
EMPLOYEES: 2
REVENUE: $100,000 in first year of sales
WEBSITE: www.babbacare.com
CONTACT: [email protected]
NOTABLE: Dan’s wife Chelsey is content creator of cool places to checkout in San Diego (@chelseyexplores on Instagram/TikTok), and was the one who came up with the idea for the need to both cool and warm breastmilk in a single product.
Born and raised in San Diego, Madison takes great pride in local storytelling. Her coverage at the San Diego Business Journal includes tourism, hospitality, nonprofits, education and retail. An alumna of San Diego State University’s journalism program, she has written for publications including The San Diego Union-Tribune and The San Diego Sun. At the 2024 San Diego Press Club awards, Madison was recognized for her exemplary profile writing. She was also a speaker for the 2023 TEDx Conference at Bonita Vista High School. When she’s not working on her next story, Madison can be found performing music at a local restaurant or on one of San Diego’s many hiking trails.
