Healthtech company Innocens, a spin-off from the University of Antwerp and UZA, has reached a new milestone in its mission to protect premature babies from life-threatening infections. The company has raised €1.5 million from Qbic Fund, LRM, BAN Flanders, BeAngels, NXT Investment Club, as well as existing shareholders.
This funding will enable Innocens to accelerate clinical validation, strengthen its team, prepare for CE certification, and deploy its data platform across European and US markets.
A vital challenge for the tiniest patients
Premature babies are highly vulnerable to sepsis, a severe infection caused by bacteria entering the bloodstream. Although treatable when detected early, diagnosing the condition is complex and requires continuous monitoring.
This is where Innocens makes a difference. Through an intelligent digital monitoring solution, the platform continuously analyses physiological data already collected in neonatal intensive care units. Its advanced algorithm — trained on large anonymised datasets — detects extremely subtle variations, sometimes invisible to clinicians, enabling earlier alerts.
From clinical validation to international deployment
Following a first funding round in 2023 — the year Innocens was named ICT/Digital Project of the Year small by Data News — the company is now ready for the next step. The newly raised funds will support:
- completion of a new clinical study,
- obtaining CE certification,
- expanding the team,
- validating a first application in neonatal intensive care units,
- scaling the platform across Europe and the United States.
A team driven by a strong mission
At the heart of Innocens is a dedicated team united by a shared conviction: solving a major challenge for the most fragile patients and extending this expertise to other clinical cases. In the long term, the technology could also help detect other severe complications earlier, such as heart attacks or strokes, where early signals often appear hours before clinical deterioration.
BeAngels is proud to support Innocens in this ambitious new phase — an innovation that promises significant impact in neonatal intensive care and beyond.