Editor’s note: WRAL TechWire and the Council for Entrepreneurial development are partnering to present a series of profiles and Q&As featuring companies startups and emerging companies participating in the CED’s annual Life Science conference coming up Feb. 28-March 1 in Raleigh. The latest profile is ​Baebies, Inc., which is based in Durham.

Baebies, Inc.

  • Web site: www.baebies.com
  • CEO: Richard West
  • Contact information: rwest@baebies.com
  • Company Sub-sector: Diagnostic
  • Headquarters:Durham, NC
  • Year Founded: 2013
  • VIDEO: Watch a video profile about Baebies at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlOoa0iz-Go

COMPANY PROFILE

More than 500,000 babies are born around the globe each year with a treatable, congenital disorder. That’s one baby every minute that dies or is disabled due to lack of accessible newborn screening. Even in the US, with the most mature newborn screening program in the world, there are 100+ diseases with FDA-approved pediatric therapies for which we do not yet screen!

The experienced Baebies team, after selling Advanced Liquid Logic to Illumina, has licensed back digital microfluidics to provide highly differentiated products to the newborn screening and pediatric testing markets. The first product – SEEKER, for high-throughput labs – was recently cleared by the FDA and is now available in both the US and abroad. The company’s second product – the FINDER point-of-care platform – will be launched in the EU in early 2018 while pending FDA clearance.

The addressable markets are very large and the potential benefits even larger. The company is currently raising Series B equity.

FOUNDERS/MANAGEMENT TEAM

  • Richard West, CEO and Co-founder
  • Dr. Vamsee Pamula, President and Co-founder
  • Dr. Vijay Srinivasan, Vice President of Product Development
  • Tammy Carrea, Vice President of Quality and Regulatory
  • Charles Cadwell, CFO

KEY MILESTONES TO DATE

  • Funding: $13M Series A equity, $7.5M NIH grants, $1M 2016 product revenue
  • SEEKER FDA cleared 2/3/2017
  • Five assays commercially available, shipped 1.3M tests cumulative
  • Pharma partner contract for assay development and pilot testing
  • System prototypes for FINDER in test, first FINDER FDA review complete
  • Cumulatively have saved 120+ affected babies – just in pilots!

POWERED BY

Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network, CED, NC Biotechnology Center, Duke Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative, Duke Office of Licensing and Ventures, First Flight Venture Center, Rex Health Ventures, DUMAC

Q&A

  • What is the primary pain point you are seeking to address?

More than 500,000 babies are born around the globe each year with a treatable, congenital disorder. That’s one baby every minute that dies or is disabled due to lack of accessible newborn screening. Even in the US, with the most mature newborn screening program in the world, there are 100+ diseases with FDA-approved pediatric therapies for which we do not yet screen!

  • What sets your company apart? What’s the “secret sauce”?

The experienced Baebies team, after selling Advanced Liquid Logic to Illumina, has licensed back digital microfluidics to provide highly differentiated products to the newborn screening and pediatric testing markets.

  • Why should investors be interested in your company? What is the potential market size?

The first product – SEEKER, for high-throughput labs – was recently cleared by the FDA and is now available in both the US and abroad.

The company’s second product – the FINDER point-of-care platform – will be launched in the EU in early 2018 while pending FDA clearance.

The addressable markets are very large ($4B+) and the potential benefits even larger.