Despite just starting out in mid-2023, speech development platform Mylo Speech Buddy has already had an incredibly busy year. The startup was a finalist on the 9th season of CNN Philippines’ “The Final Pitch”, a contender in the Department of Trade and Industry backed-SLINGSHOT x Venture Pilipinas Pitch Competition, and 1st runner up at the PLDT and Smart Startup Innovation Challenge.
Despite the recent string of accolades however, Mylo Speech Buddy has never lost sight of its bigger mission to support children with speech delays, particularly those on the autism spectrum. “We enjoy the accolades but if they’re not in line with our goals, we refrain from joining in,” said co-founder Vincent Rocha.
Founded in July 2023 by Vincent Rocha, Enrico Aquino, and filmmaker Mark Meily, the Mylo app employs the research-backed Discrete Video Modeling approach in helping along speech development. Downloadable on Google Play and the App Store, the Mylo app streams videos to empower Ausome children (what the startup calls children with autism) to progress from a state of non-communication to verbal expression, effectively taking them from zero to one.
Making treatment more accessible
Using Mylo is as easy as watching the platform’s videos 6 times a day and working through its modules, with the idea that Ausome children can learn from the videos to hone their speech skills. This approach has received recognition and endorsement from renowned institutions, including Harvard University, Claremont University, American Psychological Association and American Journal of Speech Pathology.
Mylo’s work is deeply personal to the team. Rocha, having a son with autism, and Meily, whose granddaughter also has the condition, bring a heartfelt commitment to their work. Indeed, Rocha is personally acquainted with the challenges of accessing adequate speech therapy support in the country. He witnessed firsthand a staggering waitlist of 200 individuals seeking speech therapy as he sought assistance for his son.
“In the Philippines there are about 1.2 million people with autism, but only about 70 developmental pedia, 700 speech therapists, and 3,000 to 4,000 occupational therapists,” explained Rocha. “So the demand for help definitely outweighs the supply.”
Thus Rocha is quick to emphasize that Mylo isn’t meant to be a disruptive solution—in fact, it’s meant to be used as a supplement to regular therapy sessions. It’s also meant to make therapist’s jobs easier, with the startup exploring how it can work with speech and occupational therapist associations and even make teletherapy services possible someday.
Rocha adds that even his son’s doctors have been involved with Mylo since the startup’s inception. “They’re really interested in what the team is doing. They give us their opinions and let us know how they think we should move forward,” he said.
A commitment to global impact
Aside from its emphasis on expert-backed treatment, another one of Mylo’s biggest selling points is its accessibility—starting with its prices.
In addition to offering all potential users a limited-time free trial, Mylo keeps its prices low: the app’s subscription rates are just P999 a month or P5,999 a year. Its prices stand in stark contrast to other similar apps, where subscriptions start at $100 a month (or roughly P5,500).
“Even if it works, it’s just way too expensive for the average Filipino,” said Rocha.
However, Mylo’s commitment to accessibility extends beyond its pricing. While it currently provides content in English, Rocha discloses that the startup is actively working on expanding its offerings to include content in other languages.
In fact, Mylo’s globalization is the cornerstone of its plans for 2024.
“One of the biggest pieces of advice we heard during the pitch competitions was to focus on the global market. Actually it just so happens that we already do have downloads from places like the US and the UAE,” said Rocha. “That really opened our eyes to the fact that a global expansion really is plausible. So that’s why our goal for next year is to onboard 34,000 paid users—12,000 in the Philippines and 22,000 globally.”
Mylo’s ambition isn’t just a wild idea that’s come out of nowhere. With some initial funding already under their belt (some of which have come from the pitch competitions they’ve joined), the Mylo team has a concrete plan for attacking the international market. Aside from creating and releasing localized content, Mylo plans to look for influencers and Ausome parents who can validate the effectiveness of their product. These stories should show that their product is universally effective, creating a captive local audience for Mylo to reach.
Yet Mylo’s ambitions still don’t stop at international expansion. Rocha reveals that it hopes to open a therapy center of its own, working with speech and occupational therapists to make in-person treatment readily available for Ausome parents and their kids.
“Eventually we’d like for the therapy center to be our office too. It could really be the heart of our operations,” Rocha said.
An unwavering commitment
With a couple hundred paying subscribers already, Mylo looks poised to accomplish great things. Rocha only hopes that potential users and even investors also see it that way.
For one, Rocha points out that the team hasn’t neglected the business side of things, despite being a social impact venture. “Mylo provides a social good and we try to keep prices accessible. But there is a definite demand for the solution, especially if we expand internationally; the potential for returns is there,” he said.
Rocha understands there will be challenges ahead. Despite this, Rocha has nothing but the utmost confidence in his team, with all of them agreeing to work with Mylo with no hesitation.
“It’s personal for us,” Rocha emphasizes. “Apart from our experiences with our own families, we always hear feedback from other parents that fuels us. One of the comments on our TikTok page was from an Ausome mom who said just wanted to hear her son say ‘mommy’—when we hear things like that it makes us want to provide a great solution no matter what.”
“What we do with Mylo is a mission for us,” concluded Rocha. “So we don’t get tired.”