Pregnancy Care Platform Aster Secures $2.4M
Aster prevents maternal health complications by powering clinicians.
San Francisco-based pregnancy care platform, Aster, has successfully raised $2.4 million in pre-seed funding, surpassing its initial $1.5 million target. The funding round was led by Cake Ventures, with participation from investors like Cornerstone, Zeal Capital Partners, Octopus, Blueprint, Everywhere, and select angel investors. Aster aims to address the alarming rates of maternal mortality in the U.S., particularly among marginalized groups, with a focus on remote monitoring and early detection of pregnancy-related complications.
The platform connects patients and healthcare providers, offering features such as a scheduling tool that considers prior conditions and risk levels for optimal prenatal appointments. Aster provides a remote vital signs tracker, including a blood pressure cuff, glucometer, and urine analysis test strips. Co-founders Fifi Kara, Dr. Lailah Kara-Newton, and Andrew Q. Tran, say the new funds will be utilized to transition the platform out of the pilot phase, with a goal of onboarding 100 clinics by the end of the year. The significance of remote monitoring lies in its potential to detect key risks like gestational hypertension and diabetes early, contributing to both prevention and early treatment, ultimately reducing maternal mortality rates. This initiative is timely, given the challenging state of maternal healthcare in the U.S., where closures are widespread, and the need is particularly high in states like Alabama, Alaska, Ohio, and Maryland.
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