Company behind foetal monitoring device raises $5m

Fogarty Innovation, a non-profit educational incubator for medical technology companies, has announced that its graduate, Raydiant Oximetry, has raised an oversubscribed round of $5 million Series A2 financing. 

The funding was led by Avestria Ventures, which invests in early-stage women’s health companies, and syndicated by KOFA Healthcare, V-Capital, Band of Angels, FemHealth Ventures, RHIA Ventures, SteelSky Ventures and Tri-Valley Ventures.

Raydiant Oximetry is a clinical-stage medical device company focussed on improving women’s and neonatal health. Its innovation is LUMERAH, a non-invasive foetal oximeter is designed to detect foetal distress more accurately during labour and delivery. Current foetal monitoring technology has a low sensitivity that may lead to the failed identification of the distressed baby during labour and delivery, potentially contributing to subsequent newborn birth injury. 

Initial preclinical results show that LUMERAH significantly improves sensitivity and specificity for the detection of foetal distress and consequently could improve outcomes for both mother and baby during childbirth. Because of its life-improving potential, the FDA has already granted LUMERAH Breakthrough Device status for expedited market approval.

Andrew Cleeland, CEO of Fogarty Innovation, said: “We are very proud of Neil Ray, MD, founder and CEO of Raydiant Oximetry, and his team for showcasing the opportunity for this type of innovation in the women’s health and neonatal space. Their technology shows potential to have a large impact for millions of mothers and babies around the globe, and is the type of pioneering concept that Fogarty Innovation fosters.”

Linda Greub, managing partner of Avestria Ventures, added: “Raydiant has assembled a team that is uniquely qualified to develop LUMERAH and provide obstetricians with accurate, quantifiable data for making critical labour and delivery decisions. When this device shows to improve the health of mothers and newborns, we are hopeful it will become the standard in hospitals worldwide.”

Raydiant Oximetry plans to use the proceeds of the Series A2 financing to complete a clinical study at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas. UTMB is one of 12 clinical research centres established by the NIH Maternal-Foetal-Medicine Network to promote clinical studies during pregnancy. The principal investigator for the study is Dr. George Saade, the chief of maternal foetal medicine at UTMB.

Dr. Neil P. Ray said: “We are very pleased that LUMERAH continues to resonate with our audiences, including clinicians and investors. We will continue to create shareholder value by demonstrating the clinical utility of LUMERAH and look forward to the transformative impact this technology will have on the field, physicians and their patients.”