Our story · Since 2021

A company built on the kitchen table where we wrote our donor agreement.

Taryn and Kat, co-founders of Hapū Helpers
Taryn (left) & Kat · Auckland, 2020

Hapū Helpers exists because there was a year of our lives where we needed something exactly like this and it didn't exist anywhere in New Zealand. So once we got to the other side of our own journey, we built it. For the next family. And the family after that.

“Hapū” means both pregnant and extended family in te reo Māori. We didn't have to pick a name. The name picked itself.
01
2019 · Where it began

Two of us. Two low-fertility diagnoses. One stubborn decision.

We met in 2017. By 2019, we'd both been to the GP, both done bloodwork, and both heard that we had low fertility.

We were determined to grow our family so we started looking for ways to do that. Honestly, during those periods the “turkey baster method” popped up a lot ;)

After a lot of research, we found a donor in a Facebook group in New Zealand and before we knew it, we were drafting agreements and preparing to try artificial insemination at home with the donor sperm. We got pregnant just 7 days apart on our second cycle of trying.

02
2020 — The middle

While we were pregnant, the messages started arriving.

Taryn had been quietly documenting the journey on YouTube, a channel called 2bumps_samelove. By the time the babies were born, the channel had thousands of subscribers, most of whom were sending the same kinds of messages:

Where did you get your kit? What ovulation strips do you use? Can you walk me through how you found a donor?

We answered every one. Then we counted: most of them were from people in NZ or Australia who couldn't find any of these supplies locally, and were ordering scrappy kits from US Amazon sellers and paying $80 to ship them.

03
2021 — The start

The first version of The Dinky was assembled on our kitchen table.

Sterile syringes. Collection cups. Soft discs. The same supplies we'd used, sourced locally, packaged with instructions written in plain English. We started shipping out of our garage. We took every order personally. We answered every email — most of them long ones — because we knew what it was like to be on the other side of those questions.

That kit is still in our range. We've made it nicer, but the contents haven't changed. We don't think they need to.

04
2024 — Now

Over 2,400 NZ whānau, and counting.

We're a small team. Mostly women. Mostly people who came to Hapū Helpers because they used our products to start their own family. The team is still small enough that the people answering your emails are the people who designed the kit, who wrote the articles, who tested the ovulation strips, who built the consult booking page.

If you message us, you'll get a real reply from a real person. Sometimes it'll be one of us. We think that matters more than scale.

What we believe

The five things we built this company on.

01

Honesty over polish

Plain English. No marketing fluff. Tell people what works and what doesn't.

02

Built by users, for users

Every product we sell, one of us has used personally. That's the bar.

03

Inclusive without performing it

Our families look like all kinds of things. So does our team, our community, and our language.

04

NZ-rooted

This is a NewZealand company for NZ & AU whānau. The legal context, the culture, the language, all of it matters.

05

The free consult, always

We've kept the free 30-minute consult since day one. We'll keep it. Even when we shouldn't.

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The team

The whānau behind Hapū.

Taryn Cumming: Founder. Mum to Ryan (5). Behind most of the product design and the writing in our Learning Center.

Kat Buchanan: Co-founder. Mum to our second daughter, Piper (5). The operational brain of the operation. Answers most of the late-night emails.

Elaine, Cat& Paula: Our team. Each came to Hapū after using our products in their own journey. Paula is our consult coordinator and the warmest voice you'll hear on a call.

This is the part where we'd like to meet you.

Whether you're months away from trying, in the thick of it, or somewhere between, the free consult is yours. Bring whatever questions you have. We'll meet you there.

Book a free consult