Fresh from a new $10 million oversubscribed round of funding, Durham startup Baebies plans to roll out a new platform for neonatal testing, augmenting its already FDA-approved technology. So says co-founder and CEO Richard West.

Baebies on Tuesday announced the closing of the new funding and disclosed the identity of its big investor, China-based BOE Technology Group, a semiconductor and Internet-of-Things focused company that launched in 1993.

The funding follows a $13 million round raised over a two-year period from 2013-2015 and drew 94 investors. And Baebies’ success in raising new capital comes as Baebies surpassed the 2 million milestone for its Seeker technology that came faster than projected. Seeker was approved by the FDA earlier this year.

In a Q&A, the Skinny sought additional information about the funding and how Baebies came to land BOE as an investor. West declined to answer those questions.

He did choose to talk about its technology.

  • Congrats on the new funding. How do you plan to invest the additional funds?

Thank you. We will continue with sales of Seeker and research and development of additional products in the newborn screening and pediatric testing space.

  • Why do you believe your growth is ahead of schedule?

Baebies is focused on providing a healthy start for newborns around the world, we are truly driven by this mission. Our focus and high velocity enable us to achieve milestones early.

The innovative technology that drives our products is easy to adopt for many customers and more significantly, we have the first and only FDA authorized product for lysosomal storage disorder newborn screening.

Many of the US state labs are starting to add or planning to add lysosomal storage disease screening to their state panels, because of the severity of the disorders and available therapies for these diseases.

  • Are there more products in development? Please tell me what you can about them and timeline.

Yes, we are currently developing Finder. Finder is the only platform specifically designed to address the unique needs of neonatal testing.

Finder substantially decreases both sample size and testing time, enables testing in the nursery or anywhere in the hospital, and delivers comprehensive test panels – even across multiple test types – to solve acute problems in neonatology. It will be available later next year.