Venture Capital News: Owlet Baby Care Inks $15M
2016-11-03
LEHI, UT, Owlet Baby Care, a Techstars company and creator of the Owlet Smart Sock, raised an additional $15 million through venture funding and a collaborator role grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Owlet's new round of funding brings its total raised to $25 million. Investors in this round include previous round participants Eclipse and Eniac, as well as new investors Trilogy Equity Partners, the Amazon Alexa Fund, RTP-HC, Capital Integral and Broadway Angels.
'This new round of funding provides Owlet with the backing to expand our reach into retail and international distribution, launch two new product lines and kickoff the largest infant health study ever conducted,' said Kurt Workman, Owlet Co-Founder and CEO. 'We are very grateful for the continued support of our investors, and we're excited to welcome Trilogy Equity Partners, the Alexa Fund, RTP-HC, Capital Integral and Broadway Angels who help make achieving our big vision and mission possible.'
Venture and angel participants in this fundraise include a diverse group of organizations, showing Owlet's appeal across various industries. In prior funding rounds, Owlet also raised money from top Utah seed fund Peak Ventures and TOMS Social Entrepreneurship Fund, among other funds and investors. In October, Forbes included Owlet on its list of projected Next Billion-Dollar Startup companies.
'Owlet is a key component for the connected nursery and we are excited about supporting the company with an investment that helps propel it forward and support its mission,' said Steve Rabuchin, Vice President of Amazon Alexa. 'We look forward to the future opportunities to integrate Owlet with Alexa, empowering parents with the incredible data and information provided by Owlet.'
As part of this new funding, Owlet becomes the commercialization partner on a $1.5 million grant from the NIH to further infant health research. This brings the company's total grants from the NIH to $3 million since 2015. Owlet will launch an IRB-approved clinical study in 2017, which will focus on collecting the largest set of infant health data. Owlet believes the data collected through the Smart Sock can provide clinicians and researchers better insights into an infant's health and wellbeing.
Also in 2017, Owlet will release a connected care feature giving users greater access to their data and the ability to share that data with pediatricians. Owlet envisions a safer, healthier future for infants and is committed to releasing the best products in infant health monitoring.
ABOUT OWLET BABY CARE
Owlet Baby Care was founded in 2013 by a team of passionate parents who wanted to bring themselves and other parents around the globe peace of mind and assurance by developing a monitor that tracks a baby's oxygen and heart rate. Using pulse oximetry, the same proven technology used in hospitals, the Owlet Smart Sock is designed to send notifications to the Base Station and via Wi-Fi to a smartphone, if baby's heart rate or oxygen fall outside a preset range.
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