Fogarty Innovation, a nonprofit educational incubator for medical technology companies, announced today that its graduate, Raydiant Oximetry, Inc., 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 and SteelSky Ventures.
Raydiant Oximetry is a clinical-stage medical device company focused on improving women’s and neonatal health. Its innovation is LUMERAHTM, the first-of-its-kind non-invasive fetal oximeter designed to more accurately detect fetal distress during labor and delivery. Current fetal monitoring technology has a low sensitivity that may lead to the failed identification of the distressed baby during labor and delivery, potentially contributing to subsequent newborn birth injury 1. In addition, existing fetal monitoring technology has a low specificity, which can lead to the overuse of emergency C-sections 2.
Initial preclinical results show that LUMERAH significantly improves sensitivity and specificity for the detection of fetal 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.
“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,” said Andrew Cleeland, CEO of Fogarty Innovation. “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.”
“Raydiant has assembled a team that is uniquely qualified to develop LUMERAH and provide obstetricians with accurate, quantifiable data for making critical labor 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,” said Linda Greub, Managing Partner of Avestria Ventures.
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 centers established by the NIH Maternal-Fetal-Medicine Network to promote clinical studies during pregnancy. The principal investigator for the study is Dr. George Saade, the Chief of Maternal Fetal Medicine at UTMB.
“We are very pleased that LUMERAH continues to resonate with our audiences, including clinicians and investors,” said Dr. Neil P. Ray. “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.”