Raydiant has developed a pre-clinical medical device to detect prenatal hypoxia (low oxygen level) during labor; the non-invasive monitor is placed on the mother’s abdomen and uses light-based technology to perform a color analysis of the fetus’ blood. An accurate indicator of hypoxia would enable physicians to determine when an emergency C-Section is, or is not, indicated.
CEO: Neil Ray
Headquarters: San Ramon, CA
Year Founded: 2016
Year Avestria First Invested: 2019 (Fund I)
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How March of Dimes established an innovation fund to further its mission
Raydiant FDA Approval for Lumerah Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) Study
Raydiant is a finalist in the RADx® Tech Fetal Monitoring Challenge
Raydiant is a 2023 Prix Galien USA nominee
Four takeaways from Aspen Ideas: Health
The Top Founders and Leaders Driving Innovation in Women’s Health in 2023
Upcoming webinar to highlight the unseen opportunity in women’s health
Raydiant was chosen as a finalist for the Reproductive Health Innovation Showcase
Raydiant kicks off Series B fundraising with investment from March of Dimes
Raydiant is pitching at the Future of Maternal Care Summit 2023
Raydiant is presenting at the Innovation Summit San Francisco 2022
Raydiant partnering with Irish institute to develop life-saving technology
Raydiant is one of the 35 most promising femtech startups, according to VCs
Raydiant among the 24 startups pitching at the 2022 Women’s Health Innovation Summit
Raydiant among the winners of the NIH’s Technology Accelerator Challenge for Maternal Health
Lab to Startup: Preventing unnecessary C-sections and making childbirth safer
Emerging Startups 2022: Top Wearable Technology Startups
Raydiant Oximetry takes unusual path to move its innovative idea forward
Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group Announces 2022 #GameChanger Awards
‘Femtech’ evolving beyond periods, pregnancy and postpartum: what’s next for women’s health
Raydiant presenting as part of SPIE Startup Challenge
Why this medtech startup isn’t afraid of taking on a PMA process with the FDA
Raydiant raises $5 million in oversubscribed Series A-2 financing round
Raydiant Oximetry receives $3 million grant
Raydiant selected by the NIH to present at the Angel Capital Association’s annual conference
The truth about electronic fetal heart rate monitoring
Raydiant selected for 2020 HealthTech Arkansas healthcare accelerator
Between the Term Sheets podcast: Raydiant Oximetry
MedTech Innovator announces top 15 startups selected for pediatric accelerator program
How much does it cost to give birth in the United States?
Raydiant graduates from Fogarty Institute & raises Series A round
Which medical devices made the MedCity INVEST pitch competition shortlist?
Women’s health is long overdue for a fresh pair of eyes - and needed funding
May 1, 2024: Since its inception in September 2022, the March of Dimes Innovation Fund has invested in three companies focusing on maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. This article explains the inspiration behind the March of Dimes Innovation Fund - Erika and Kris Young’s daughter, Sommer Vivienne Young, who tragically lived for only an hour and 50 minutes - and gives an overview of some of the Fund’s investments, including Raydiant Oximetry.
April 10, 2024: Raydiant has received approval from the FDA for its Lumerah device for an Early Feasibility Study (EFS) of pregnant women during labor and delivery. An IDE allows an investigational device to be used in a clinical study in order to collect data on its safety and efficacy. Long-term, Raydiant also hopes to prove the Lumerah could significantly improve the sensitivity and specificity for detecting fetal distress during labor and delivery compared to fetal heart rate monitoring: the current standard of care. The clinical study involving Lumerah is set to begin this month at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
March 1, 2024: Approximately two million stillbirths are reported annually worldwide and over 24,000 of those cases occur in the United States alone. The RADx® Tech Fetal Monitoring Challenge aims to support companies that are enhancing fetal health diagnoses, especially in low-resource environments. Raydiant is one of the six finalists out of over 40 entrants, winning at least $75,000 with the opportunity to win up to $1.5M more. This article specifically notes Raydiant’s LUMERAH device as an example of “leveraging advanced scientific knowledge for public health”.
July 27, 2023: Raydiant is a nominee for the 2023 Prix Galien USA “Best Startup” award. These awards, hosted by The Galien Foundation, recognize top innovations in healthcare across four categories: “Best Digital Health Solution”, “Best Medical Technology”, “Incubators, Accelerators, and Equity”, and “Best Startup”. Curio, another Avestria portfolio company, also received a nomination: for “Best Digital Health Solution”.
June 27, 2023: The need for increased investment in women’s health was one of the four takeaways from the Aspen Ideas: Health conference, which is part of the Aspen Institute’s Aspen Ideas Festival. In the conference, Maria Velissaris, manager of Steel Sky Ventures and one of the women’s health-focused funds, like Avestria, that have invested in Raydiant, named Raydiant and Origin as two women’s health-focused startups to watch.
May 31, 2023: Neil Ray of Raydiant Oximetry made Slice of Healthcare’s list of “The Top Founders and Leaders Driving Innovation in Women’s Health in 2023”. This list covers the top 50 entrepreneurs and investors in women’s health, across 10 different categories, including diagnostics and testing, maternal health, and general health and wellness. Oriana Papin-Zoghbi of AOA Dx, Shailja Dixit of Curio Digital Therapeutics, and Joanna Strober of Midi Health are three other Avestria portfolio company CEOs that also made the list.
April 12, 2023: This article focuses on the “Unseen Opportunity in Women’s Health” webinar which is co-hosted by Startup Tri-Valley and Avestria Ventures and features a fireside chat between Avestria’s Tracy Dooley and Neil Ray. In this article, Neil gave an overview about some of the reasons that he founded Raydiant, including the rising maternal mortality rate in the United States and the lack of innovation in fetal heart rate monitoring technology, and his goals for Raydiant’s technology. He’ll discuss these same topics in-depth during the webinar. Avestria’s Linda Greub was also quoted in the article.
February 15, 2023: The Reproductive Health Innovation Summit is held every year in February as an offshoot of the Women’s Health Innovation Summit (which takes place in September). Both events have a company showcase, with companies submitted and voted upon by a panel of investors, including Linda Greub. Raydiant was chosen as one of the finalists, allowing the company to pitch in person at the event in front of investors, potential partners, and other women’s health supporters. Curio and Mae - two other Avestria portfolio companies - were also chosen as finalists.
February 7, 2023: Following the success of Raydiant’s clinical study, the March of Dimes Innovation Fund has invested in the company. This investment aims to kick off Raydiant’s $25M Series B round, and the total amount, which includes the March of Dimes investment, will be used to complete the commercial product development and launch the pivotal trial to help support FDA clearance for the company’s LUMERAH device.
January 25, 2023: Raydiant is one of the startups pitching in the Future of Maternal Care Summit’s “Shark Tank Session”. This session, which takes place on the first day of the conference, allows the selected startups, like Raydiant, to have 10 minutes to pitch to and answer questions from a panel of investors and to receive detailed feedback from those investors, which include Avestria’s Linda Greub.
November 16, 2022: Raydiant is one of the presenting companies at the MedTech Strategist Innovation Summit San Francisco 2022. The conference seeks startup medical device companies, like Raydiant, to present and to make connections with global strategic and investment partners. Each company that is chosen gets a 10-minute presentation as well as access to private breakout rooms where they can meet one-on-one with interested partners.
November 3, 2022: In this interview, Neil Ray, a pediatric anesthesiologist who has been in clinical practice for almost 20 years, explains that he founded Raydiant Oximetry to combat the growing number of C-sections based on the results of fetal heart rate monitoring. Current fetal heart rate monitoring, however, is as accurate as a coin toss. Raydiant’s device, LUMERAH, wants to work in conjunction with existing fetal heart rate monitoring technologies to monitor the baby for distress. Neil Ray has been working with Tyndall National Institute to help raise funding, establish proof of concept, and help model the company’s future.
October 17, 2022: Raydiant Oximetry was highlighted in this Business Insider article about 35 of the most promising femtech startups, according to VCs. Tracy Dooley, Avestria Partner, was quoted about Raydiant’s LUMERAH device’s ability to move beyond the “coin flip”-like odds of current methods for detecting fetal distress. Avestria portfolio companies AOA Dx, Curio, Mae, and Midi were also included in this article. Note: membership required for viewing.
September 4, 2022: Antiva was one of the 24 women’s health startups chosen to pitch at the 2022 Women’s Health Innovation Summit. These companies were selected by 10 leading venture capitalists in women’s health, femtech, and healthcare, including Avestria’s Linda Greub. Antiva Biosciences and AOA, two other Avestria portfolio companies, were also named as finalists.
July 28, 2022: Raydiant was the third-place winner in the NIH’s Technology Accelerator Challenge (NTAC) for Maternal Health, which recognizes diagnostic technologies - like Raydiant's LUMERAH device - meant to improve maternal health. The NTAC for Maternal Health drew over 40 entries, five of which, including Raydiant, were selected to receive cash prizes while four others received honorable mention awards.
June 28, 2022: In the latest “Lab to Startup” podcast episode, host Naresh Sunkara Ph.D interviews Neil Ray about Raydiant, its novel fetal oximeter, and the need for that device - and innovations in women’s health in general. Neil also talks about his own transition from clinical anesthesiologist into founder, the pros, cons, and challenges of being involved in medicine as a founder and an entrepreneur, and his own advice for physicians who are thinking of starting a company.
April 19, 2022: Raydiant Oximetry made Tracxn’s annual list of top emerging startups, specifically those focused on wearable technologies. Tracxn curated a list of about 65 startups - from the total 5.1k total wearable technology startups - and noted them as “unicorns”, “soonicorns”, and “minicorns”. Raydiant was recognized as a “minicorn” due to its early stage, high growth, and recognized potential.
March 14, 2022: In addition to being considered a medtech startup, Raydiant could be considered a photonics firm because it utilizes the science and technology of light. While photonics-based companies can run into challenges surrounding R&D costs, limited skilled workers, and more, Raydiant - as explained in this article from Electronic Products and Technology - decided to seek funding and partnerships in Europe. Once Raydiant’s product is commercialized, it will be able to help clinicians and patients in both continents.
March 9, 2022: Raydiant Oximetry was one of the recipients of the annual #GameChanger Awards, which are hosted by Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group (ITV), BRIIA: the Intelligent Accelerator, and StartUp Tri-Valley. Raydiant is one of the 11 companies - across human resources, retail, healthcare, and more - that are from the Bay Area’s Tri-Valley and that were honored for making a global impact and changing the game.
February 24, 2022: The women’s health market is projected to reach $1.19 trillion by 2027, and this MedTech Insight article interviews some of the investors, highlights some of the companies, and shares some of the numbers that are working to increase the visibility and innovation of women’s health. One of the investors profiled is FemHealth Ventures, which invested in Raydiant Oximetry’s latest round - which Avestria led! (Note: membership required for viewing.)
December 21, 2021: Raydiant is one of the five early-stage companies presenting as part of the SPIE Startup Challenge. SPIE - a non-profit organization that focuses on advancing light-based science, engineering, and technology - is hosting its 12th Startup Challenge this year with ten finalists competing for a $10,000 cash prize along with the five early-stage companies, including Raydiant, that will be able to present to possible inventors.
November 23, 2021: In this episode of the Project MedTech podcast, Neil Ray joined host Duane Mancini to talk about Raydiant and its process towards commercialization. For Raydiant, that process includes a Class III classification and a pursuit of Premarket Approval (PMA), which the FDA will grant if it finds that a medical device, like Raydiant’s, is safe and effective,
November 2, 2021: Raydiant Oximetry announced its oversubscribed $5 million Series A-2 financing round. The round, which was led by Avestria Ventures, also included Tri-Valley Ventures, KOFA Healthcare, V-Capital, Band of Angels, FemHealth Ventures, RHIA Ventures and SteelSky Ventures. Raydiant plans to use the funds to complete its clinical study at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas.
May 26, 2021: Raydiant Oximetry received a grant from about $3 million from Ireland’s new Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund that will help Raydiant refine its algorithm and conduct market research. This grant is not the first partnership between Raydiant Oximetry and Ireland: for the past few years, the company has been working with the Tyndall National Institute in Cork, Ireland, to develop and continue improving the algorithm behind its fetal oximeter.
April 20, 2021: The NIH selected Raydiant Oximetry to present at the Angel Capital Association’s annual conference. While worldwide access to the annual Summit of Angel Investing began on May 4 and lasted through May 6, Raydiant will be presenting in the Pre-Event Innovation Funders Showcase on May 3 alongside companies like Aspero Medical, Eysz, and InheRET among others.
April 5, 2021: This article chronicles the origins, popularity, and challenges of using electronic fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring, which is used in childbirth almost universally. However, this technology can have false-positive rates as high as 99.8% and pregnant individuals who rely on electronic fetal heart rate monitoring are 63% more likely to have a C-section than those that use hands-on listening to track the baby’s heart rate and any contractions. Raydiant’s device is meant to be used in conjunction with FHR monitoring to monitor fetal oxygenation directly, mitigate the rate of false-positives, and see whether an emergency C-section is truly needed.
September 8, 2020: Raydiant was one of five early-stage companies chosen for the 2020 HealthTech Arkansas healthcare accelerator. These five companies were selected from hundreds of applicants across 14 different countries and include Astarte Medical, nView Medical, Vena Vitals, and Zeto along with Raydiant.
August 24, 2020: Currently, there is no commercially available method to measure fetal oxygenation during birth. In this episode of the “Between the Term Sheets” podcast, Neil Ray talks about Raydiant’s journey, how clinicians are currently dependent on 50-year-old fetal heart rate technology, and how Raydiant’s device can save money - and save lives. (Also available on Apple, Google, and Spotify.)
July 21, 2020: Raydiant Oximetry was one of 15 startups chosen for MedTech Innovator and the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation’s second annual Innovator Pediatric Accelerator program. This year’s acceptance rate for the accelerator program was only 3%.
June 30, 2020: This Washington Post video features Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), a registered nurse, and Every Mother Counts founder Christy Turlington Burns as they discuss maternal and infant health and care - especially during the time of COVID-19.
May 15, 2020: This article from the American Journal of Managed Care tracks the different costs of births throughout the United Stats as well as non-geographical factors that also affect those costs, The article notes that births via C-section, a more intensive surgical procedure, are typically associated with longer, more expensive admissions than vaginal births. Raydiant’s device can help physicians determine whether or not C-sections are needed, and, subsequently, reduce medically unnecessary procedures and costs.
October 28, 2019: A Fogarty Institute company, Raydiant Oximetry closed a $5.6 million Series A round. In addition to Avestria, its investors include Angel MD, MD Angels, Band of Angels, Mass Medical Angels, Rhia Ventures, and VCapital.
September 26, 2019: Raydiant Oximetry was one of the six winners in the Children's National Hospital and the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI). About 10% of all babies are born prematurely in the United States annually, and each winner aims to improve Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) care.
April 3, 2019: MedCity’s INVEST Pitch Perfect competition gives companies focused on medical devices, biopharma, diagnostics, health IT services, and health IT sectors a chance to pitch in front of a panel of judges. Raydiant was one of the nine companies that made the shortlist.
March 19, 2019: The female technology (“femtech”) market focuses on the health and well-being of women and has a potential to hit $50 billion by 2025. This article spotlights three women’s health companies: LiquidGoldConcept, Raydiant Oximetry, and WellSpace Health.