Baby love: Virgin among investors in collapsible incubator

The mOm baby incubator has raised £630,000 in seed funding from a prominent set of investors to develop its revolutionary medical device

The mOm incubator provides an alternative to bulky and costly incubators. The system collapses to a fraction of the size of conventional incubators and is approximately 90% lighter so can be used easily anywhere in the world. It will also be around 5% of the costs of conventional incubators.

With this new design, mOm aims to reduce the 1 million infant deaths that occur every year due to premature birth (World Health Organisation).

mOm’s incubator was initially designed to provide incubation technology in refugee camps and after extensive research on the challenges associated with the use of incubators in remote areas, the product has evolved into a high-quality, robust apparatus that can address both developed and developing market needs.

Investors in the product include MaSa Partners, Holly Branson (part of the Virgin Group) and Dr Joshua Boger.

The company has also signed a strategic partnership with Morgan Innovation & Technology (MIAT), a medical device developer who will help develop the product and attain regulatory approval for the medical device.

The incubator and its creator James Roberts, have already won a number of awards, including the 2014 Sir James Dyson award for innovation and the JC Gammon award for enterprise and entrepreneurship as part of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Roberts said: “It is still mind blowing for me to see my project, which was originally conceived in my final year of university, go on to become a reality and secure funding from a great team of investors. This is just the beginning, and we are working hard to bring the product to market and ensure it is able to have widespread impact in helping to reduce premature deaths.”

Dr Alan Davies, the former chief medical officer of GE Healthcare and a member of mOm’s advisory board, said: “I have previously worked as a paediatrician in newborn and neonatal intensive care in Australia, where I was extensively involved in newborn transport across long distances. I have more recently supported and researched newborn and obstetric care in rural sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Malawi and Tanzania. I see a huge need for mOm’s new incubator concept and can clearly see the potential to have a great impact, throughout the world, saving more newborn lives.”