Singapore-based Neonatal Solutions Startup Child Health Imprints Secures US$2.3 Million in HealthXCapital-Led Funding Round
Singapore-based neonatal solutions tech startup Child Health Imprints (CHIL) recently announced that it has successfully raised US$2.3 Million in a pre-Series A funding round led by HealthXCapital, a healthcare investor. Besides HealthXCapital, the startup’s pre-Series A funding round also saw the participation of Enterprise Singapore’s investment arm Seeds Capital and other high networth individuals.
The funds raised from its pre-Series A funding round will be used by the neonatal solutions startup to expand its integrated neonatal ICU (NICU) care services in the Asia Pacific region, as well as to obtain international regulatory approvals. Harpreet Singh, co-founder and chief executive officer of CHIL said: “Our aim is to improve neonatal safety across countries with high neonatal mortality rate. The company will also develop inroads into more advanced neonatal ecosystems to bring their best clinical practices to other markets across the world.”
HealthXCapital is an early stage investment platform that provides capital for healthcare startups that are focused on the emerging markets of India and Southeast Asia. The healthcare investor is anchored by Jungle Ventures, a prominent venture capital firm located in Singapore, and Apollo Hospitals, India’s largest healthcare provider. Their focus is in the healthcare areas of home health solutions, preventive health solutions, digital health solutions and point-of-care diagnostics and devices. HealthXCapital’s investment in CHIL comes a year after the launch of its US$25 million early stage fund, with an objective of investing in 10 to 12 healthcare startups in Southeast Asia and India.
CHIL is involved in the development and application of innovative informational and computational technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to improve early diagnosis of critical diseases and the overall quality of NICUs and healthcare across the globe. Additionally, the healthcare startup also has a cloud-based platform called iNICU that combines laboratory results with bedside clinical observations to produce data that is then analysed using medically comprehensive formats that leverage deep learning and machine learning technologies, which ultimately enhances the overall quality of healthcare provided to infants in NICUs.
According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), as many as 2.5 million infants passed away during the first month of life in 2018 around the world. In 2017, the leading causes of neonatal deaths are preterm birth, intrapartum-related complications, infections and birth defects. CHIL also cited a WHO report that says more than 60% of preterm births occur in Africa and Asia. Here, CHIL’s focus is to provide better neonatal care by offering better data integration among multiple devices, like ventilators, infusion pumps and patient monitors, besides unified neonatal workflow practices.
The neonatal solutions provider is established in 2018 by Harpreet Singh, Ravneet Kaur and neonatologist Dr. Gautam Yadav. Currently, the startup is running 25 NICUS spread across top tier hospitals in India, including Sir Gangaram Hospital in New Delhi and Apollo Hospitals in four cities. The startup is also looking at expanding to other countries, such as South Korea, Japan, countries in the Southeast Asia region and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
