A new vision for leave

Cocoon exists to empower every working person to take care of the important things in life when it matters most.

Our story

Cocoon was founded in 2020 on the belief that there is a better way for people to take the time away they need during pivotal life moments. It's baffling how complicated going on leave in the United States is today: people regularly spend hours researching their options, or on the phone with insurance reps, while employers struggle to support employees during these critical moments as they navigate the challenging world of leave compliance, insurance claims, and payroll.

After seeing traditional, highly regulated industries get transformed in prior roles at Square and Stripe, our founders Mahima Chawla and Lauren Dai knew technology has the power to bring the same level of creativity and simplicity to leave. Cocoon is here to reshape leave into the seamless experience we’d want it to be for our friends, family, teammates, and ourselves.

Hundreds of stories informed the Cocoon vision

Both people and employers have told us horror stories about their experience taking and managing leave. It’s time for a change.

“I was in the hospital on the computer filling out the EDD form...the payroll calculations are very complicated. To this day I don’t know if I was paid what I should have been.”
Tech industry employee
“We’re going to have to make a choice between a painful employee experience but getting the government supplement, or great employee experience and no government supplement.”
HR leader
“I was trying to file with our short-term disability provider after just having a child and I didn’t have access to a fax machine. I thought to myself literally...what is happening?!”
Real estate employee
“I was in the hospital on the computer filling out the EDD form...the payroll calculations are very complicated. To this day I don’t know if I was paid what I should have been.”
Tech industry employee
“We’re going to have to make a choice between a painful employee experience but getting the government supplement, or great employee experience and no government supplement.”
HR leader
“I was trying to file with our short-term disability provider after just having a child and I didn’t have access to a fax machine. I thought to myself literally...what is happening?!”
Real estate employee

It's time to enter the next generation of employee leave