The pitch sounds almost too good to be true: a network of sensors that can warn doctors an hour before a mother begins to hemorrhage after childbirth. Yet that's precisely what Oli, a Sydney-based medtech company, is betting A$6.5 million it can prove.
The Australian startup—previously known as Baymatob until a rebrand that streamlined its identity if not its ambitions—announced the Series A3 round recently, drawing backing from Scale Investors, the University of Sydney, and Clare Ventures. The capital will fund what comes next: pivotal clinical trials across two continents, regulatory filings with both Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the unglamorous but essential work of scaling up manufacturing.
At the heart of Oli's proposition sits a 10-sensor platform designed to be placed on expectant mothers during labor. The device captures what the company describes as "millions of data points" from maternal and fetal physiology, then applies artificial intelligence to spot the subtle shifts in vital signs that precede abnormal uterine bleeding and postpartum hemorrhage—conditions that remain leading causes of preventable maternal death globally.
Whether the technology can deliver on that promise is now being tested in real-world clinical settings.
A Breakthrough Designation, and the Trials to Match
The FDA granted Oli Breakthrough Device Designation back in August 2021, a regulatory pathway reserved for devices addressing life-threatening conditions where no adequate alternatives exist. The designation doesn't guarantee approval, but it does signal that regulators see potential. In Oli's case, the focus is early identification of patients at elevated risk of excessive bleeding during and immediately after delivery.
The company's pivotal trial—a prospective, multi-center, single-arm study—aims to demonstrate that its device can sound an alarm at least one hour before cumulative blood loss hits critical thresholds: 500 milliliters for abnormal postpartum uterine bleeding, 1,000 milliliters for full-blown postpartum hemorrhage. Those numbers matter. Minutes, in obstetric emergencies, often separate manageable complications from tragedy.
Trial sites span two countries. In Australia, Oli is working with Royal Hospital for Women and Royal North Shore Hospital, both in New South Wales. In the United States, the company established its first clinical presence at Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana—a facility that had reportedly enrolled more than 130 patients by the time it publicly disclosed its involvement. U.S. patient recruitment formally kicked off in December 2023, though the pace and scope of enrollment remain closely watched metrics for investors and regulators alike.
The Money Behind the Mission
This Series A3 follows a funding trail that stretches back years. Oli raised A$4.215 million in a Series A round in March 2022, led by Australian Unity's Future of Healthcare Fund, then added an A$1.8 million A2 extension in 2024. Beyond venture capital, the company has leaned on non-dilutive support: grants totaling A$4.43 million from the NSW Medical Devices Fund (A$1.47 million in 2017 and A$2.96 million in 2019), and selection for the CUREator+ accelerator program in early 2025.
The company was founded in 2017 by Dr. Sarah McDonald, a mechatronic engineer who transitioned from CEO to board chair in October 2021. Leadership now rests with Tara Croft, a medtech veteran with stints at ResMed and Nanosonics—companies known for navigating the regulatory gauntlet and building scaled commercial operations. LinkedIn profiles suggest Oli's headcount sits somewhere between 11 and 50 employees, a range that reflects either the opacity of private company reporting or a workforce in flux.
What Comes Next—and Why It Matters
With fresh capital in hand, Oli faces the familiar medtech trifecta: complete the trials, clear regulatory hurdles, prepare for manufacturing at scale. None of it is simple. Pivotal trials can take longer than anticipated. Regulatory agencies ask hard questions. Supply chains for medical devices are unforgiving.
Yet the clinical need is undeniable. Maternal mortality rates in the United States stood at approximately 18.0 per 100,000 live births as of the most recent available data, with stark and persistent racial inequities that have drawn congressional scrutiny and public outcry. Postpartum hemorrhage accounts for a meaningful share of those preventable deaths—deaths that occur despite the presence of trained clinicians and modern hospital infrastructure.
Perhaps that's what makes Oli's work compelling, even as questions linger. If the device works as intended, it represents not just a business opportunity but a potential shift in how obstetric care manages one of its oldest and deadliest risks. And if it doesn't? Well, the medtech landscape is littered with devices that looked promising in early trials but stumbled when subjected to the rigors of regulatory review and real-world deployment.
For now, the company is running the trials, building the infrastructure, and placing its bet that an hour's warning is enough to change outcomes. The next year or so will reveal whether investors, regulators, and ultimately clinicians agree.
