Oli raises $6.5M Series A3 to advance predictive maternal and fetal monitoring
What's the deal? Oli, an Australian startup building a wireless wearable that monitors maternal and fetal signals during labour, has raised $6.5M in a Series A3 round. Scale InvestorsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Clare Ventures, and The University of Sydney backed the raise, bringing Oli's total private capital to $13M alongside more than $9.5M in non-dilutive grants.
The device captures data across 10 biosensors — maternal and fetal simultaneously — without interrupting movement or the natural progression of labour. Its patented technology translates raw inputs into live clinical signals, identifying patterns that precede serious complications like postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), fetal distress, and stillbirth risk.
The funding will go towards completing pivotal clinical trials across seven sites in Australia and the US, advancing regulatory submissions with the TGA and FDA, setting up manufacturing in Australia, and preparing for commercial launch.
Why now? Maternal and fetal monitoring has remained largely unchanged for over 60 years. Clinicians still rely on the same three rudimentary biomarkers using retrospective information — meaning problems are often diagnosed only after they've already escalated.
Oli was founded in 2018 by mechatronic engineer Dr Sarah McDonald after the traumatic birth of her second child. "In birth rooms today, the monitoring meant to protect the room is failing the people in it — losing contact with mother and baby, misfiring, and demanding constant attention from the team it was supposed to free," said chief executive officer Tara Croft.
What could go wrong? Oli's headline claims are based on early clinical simulations, not completed trials. The company says it could improve clinical response times by up to 58% and reduce severe interventions like hysterectomies and blood transfusions by up to 50% — but pivotal trials are still underway.
It also faces a dual-market regulatory path, needing clearance from both Australia's TGA and the US FDA. Medical device approvals are notoriously slow and unpredictable, and any delay could push commercial launch further out.
The signal: Femtech continues to attract capital for problems that legacy medical infrastructure has long neglected. The fact that birth-room monitoring technology hasn't meaningfully advanced in six decades underscores how large the gap is — and how much room there is for startups willing to tackle clinical inertia.
Oli's approach — predictive rather than reactive monitoring — mirrors a broader shift across healthcare towards early-warning systems powered by dense sensor data. If it clears regulatory hurdles and delivers on its trial results, it could set a new standard for labour monitoring globally.
Read more: femtechinsider.com
