iPremom raises €15M to predict preeclampsia from a first-trimester blood test

iPremom (Valencia, Spain) has raised a €15 million seed round led by Amadeus Capital Partners through its Amadeus APEX Technology Fund, with participation from Asabys Partners and APEX Ventures. The capital is earmarked for commercial launch and clinical validation of MaiRa, the company's first-trimester molecular diagnostics platform, alongside EU and US regulatory studies.

iPremom was founded in 2019 by Prof. Carlos Simón — chairman and a pioneer of endometrial genomics, previously co-founder of Igenomix, the reproductive genomics company acquired by Vitrolife — and Dr. Tamara Garrido. The Amadeus investment is a repeat vote of confidence in Simón's work: Pierre Socha, partner at Amadeus, acknowledged backing iPremom in part because of Igenomix's track record.

What MaiRa measures, and when

The MaiRa platform analyses cell-free RNA (cfRNA) extracted from a standard blood draw taken between weeks nine and fourteen of pregnancy. At that stage, the placenta and uterine lining shed cfRNA fragments that carry molecular information about how implantation has progressed. In preeclampsia, the condition is rooted in a failure of the uterine lining to remodel as expected — a process called decidualisation resistance — which leaves a detectable cfRNA signature in the blood well before blood pressure rises or proteinuria develops.

The platform's training dataset covers more than 26,000 samples from approximately 10,000 pregnancies, a scale that gives the model enough statistical depth to distinguish risk profiles across the complexity of normal pregnancy variation. The stated ambition is not a single preeclampsia test but a broader first-trimester molecular panel — a comprehensive picture of how a pregnancy is developing at the molecular level, rather than waiting for symptoms to appear.

"Pregnancy complications have been under-diagnosed and under-treated for generations, because the field was looking in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Prof. Carlos Simón, co-founder and chairman. "Our ambition is not just to build a better preeclampsia test — it is to give every pregnant woman a comprehensive, early molecular picture of her pregnancy."

A diagnostic claim that regulators will test

Predicting preeclampsia from a first-trimester blood draw is a substantial clinical claim. The EU and US regulatory validation studies that this round funds are the gate between a promising platform and a reimbursable diagnostic — and regulators will require prospective clinical evidence at a scale that exceeds what iPremom has accumulated to date. That process takes time and money, both of which this seed provides, but does not guarantee a result.

What is already established is the market need. Preeclampsia affects an estimated 2-8% of pregnancies globally and is a leading cause of maternal and perinatal mortality; current clinical detection relies on mid-to-late trimester blood pressure and urine measurements that arrive when management options are most limited. A validated first-trimester signal that is cheap enough to run as a routine blood test — rather than a specialist referral — would be a substantive change in how obstetric risk is managed. iPremom's next 18 months are the regulatory proving ground.