Spanish company iPremom raises €15 million to advance early detection of pregnancy complications

Spanish molecular diagnostics company iPremom has raised €15 million in a Seed funding round to support clinical validation and commercial rollout of its MaiRa platform. The round was led by Amadeus Capital Partners, with participation from Asabys Partners and APEX Ventures.

The MaiRa platform uses blood tests to analyse early molecular signals linked to first-trimester pregnancy complications. Co-founder and Chairman Professor Carlos Simón said pregnancy complications have long been under-diagnosed, adding that the company's ambition is to give every pregnant woman a comprehensive, early molecular picture of her pregnancy.

How the technology works

Founded in 2019 and based in Valencia, iPremom builds on more than a decade of research led by Professor Simón and the company's Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Tamara Garrido. Their research shows that molecular signals associated with preeclampsia can be detected in maternal blood as early as 9 to 14 weeks of pregnancy, through analysis of cell-free RNA. The platform was developed using data from more than 26,000 samples linked to 10,000 pregnancies collected as part of the PREMOM study, one of Spain's largest clinical trials.

According to figures provided by the company, pregnancy complications cause roughly 260,000 maternal deaths, nearly 2 million stillbirths, and affect 2.3 million newborns in their first month of life globally each year. Preeclampsia alone affects 5 to 8% of all pregnancies worldwide.

Pierre Socha of Amadeus Capital Partners noted his firm's earlier collaboration with Professor Simón on Igenomix and said it expects similar success in prenatal care. The funding comes amid an active year for European investment in women's health and early disease detection. iPremom is now preparing for further regulatory approvals in the EU and the US.