A Durham-based diagnostics company is raising money again while expanding its presence in Europe.
The company, Baebies, has raised about $37.6 million of equity from 87 investors, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dated May 3. The company is looking to raise a total of $50 million in the offering.
This latest round of financing follows the company raising about $11.9 million of debt from 87 investors in February and closing a $28.3 million Series B round in May 2021. Since 2015, the company has reported raising about $90.8 million in public securities filings.
The company develops and commercializes products that enable early disease detection with a focus on newborn screening and pediatric testing. In March 2021, the company announced it had delivered 10 million tests to newborn screen labs around the world since its founding.
Amid this recent fundraising activity, the company is expanding the global reach of its diagnostics. Baebies announced Wednesday that its Seeker device is now being used at the Meyer Children's Hospital in Florence, Italy. The company's Seeker product tests for four lysosomal storage disorders, rare diseases caused by defects in single-genes. The early diagnosis of these diseases can save the lives of newborns.
The company completed this expansion through a partnership with the medical device supplier Medical Horizons.
"Our continued expansion of digital microfluidics technology into new global markets represents exciting opportunities to screen more babies and save more lives," said Vamsee Pamula, co-founder and president of Baebies, in a statement. "We look forward to many more opportunities to come with Medical Horizons."
The expansion into Italy follows the company in March receiving a CE Mark for a Covid-19 test that runs on another device called Finder 1.5. Products with this mark can be sold throughout the European Union and other geographies after meeting safety, health and environmental protection requirements.
At the time, CEO Richard West said that this approval is important in the company's efforts to expand its Covid-19 test and digital microfluidics technology around the world. The company says its platform can perform the Covid-19 test within 17 minutes.
"Our technology unlocks access to rapid, accurate testing at the point of care so communities can manage the threat of Covid-19 now and into the future," West said.
Along with its recent raises, the company secured contracts and grants last year to develop additional screening tests for newborns. This includes a $2.7 million award from the National Institutions of Health to develop a rapid test panel for near-patient monitoring of heparin, which is a blood thinner prescribed to certain patients. Since 2013, the company has received more than $33.3 million for 55 projects from the NIH, according to an online funding database.
