Fogarty graduate Raydiant Oximetry, Inc., kicked off its Series B financing round with an investment from the March of Dimes Innovation Fund. The cash infusion comes on the heels of a successful clinical study that showed Raydiant Oximetry’s innovative technology, LUMERAHTM, demonstrates 86% specificity and 95% sensitivity for detecting fetal distress. These results significantly improve current fetal monitoring technology, which provides 85 to 90% specificity and only 29 to 40% sensitivity.
Raydiant and March of Dimes: Two leaders in advancing maternal health
With a focus on improving women’s and neonatal health, Raydiant has been innovating on solutions to help stem the increase in C-sections worldwide, which put more mothers and babies at risk for perinatal complication. LUMERAH is 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 can lead to failed identification of a distressed baby during labor and delivery, potentially contributing to subsequent Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE), a type of brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation and limited blood flow. Low specificity can result in false positives, leading to the overuse of emergency C-sections. Because of its life-improving potential, the FDA has already granted LUMERAH Breakthrough Device status for expedited market approval.
“As the leading organization fighting to end preventable maternal and infant death and illness, our investment in Raydiant Oximetry furthers our commitment to address the most pressing challenges facing moms and babies,” said Dr. Elizabeth Cherot, senior VP and chief medical and health officer of March of Dimes. “As our second Innovation Fund investment, it is our hope that this partnership will help obstetric care providers make better-informed decisions for maternal-fetal clinical management during labor and delivery.”
Raydiant Oximetry founder and CEO Neil Ray said he is honored to partner with a like-minded organization such as March of Dimes. “This is an institution that has improved the healthcare of millions of mothers and babies,” said Neil. “This investment, following our clinical study results, will help support our ongoing development efforts to bring LUMERAH to market.”
The LUMERAH clinical study was conducted at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas. Principal investigator Dr. George Saade, the chief of Maternal Fetal Medicine at UTMB, said that “this technology will undoubtedly have an impact on maternal and neonatal healthcare, and I am excited about the future of LUMERAH.”
Successful fundraising puts Raydiant on a forward path
“Fundraising in this current environment is challenging, especially in women’s healthcare, which has been historically underfunded,” said Andrew Cleeland, CEO of Fogarty Innovation. “This latest investment from March of Dimes helps validate Raydiant Oximetry’s potential to make a big impact in the maternal and neonatal space. We look forward to watching the young company’s continued progress.”
Raydiant Oximetry is aiming to raise $25 million as part of its Series B funding round. These funds will be used to launch their pivotal trial ahead of De Novo FDA clearance.