Barcelona spin-off Fetalife seeks €8 million for liquid incubator for extremely premature babies

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Fetalife, a Barcelona spin-off, is raising €8 million to bring its liquid incubator for babies born between weeks 22 and 26 of gestation to a first human study. The money comes in three pieces. €2 million is to come from grants, public aid and competitive programmes, some already secured and some still in process. €5 million is meant for venture capital funds focused on health and social impact. The last €1 million goes to crowdfunding on Capital Cell, with tickets from €1,000. The result is a cap table built to hold specialist funds alongside, in principle, the doctors, researchers and families who followed the project.

The system pairs Amnioshell, a sealed capsule of recirculating synthetic amniotic fluid, with an artificial placenta attached to the umbilical cord. The placenta oxygenates the blood and supplies nutrients and hormones, so the lungs and gut can stay at rest. The team kept a fetal sheep on liquid support for 21 days and then moved it to newborn life without neurodevelopmental harm. Two other groups are working on similar support: a spin-off of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and an Australia-Japan academic consortium.

The work began in 2019 within BCNatal, the alliance of Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Hospital Clínic and the Universitat de Barcelona. The "la Caixa" Foundation has provided €8 million since 2020, and preclinical research has taken more than €11 million in all. The company was formally set up in 2025 and has 10 staff. The first human study is planned at Sant Joan de Déu for late 2028 or early 2029. On 5 November it won the eAwards España 2026 from Fundación NTT DATA.