Key Investor Signals
Dutch hospital collaboration secured for development
Secured a Dutch hospital collaboration in October 2025 to advance the neonatal sleep-monitoring system in a clinical setting.
Founder co-authored underlying neonatal sleep research
Chanel Sam co-authored the BeSSPI preterm sleep-classification research underpinning I See U’s technology, directly linking the founder to the method being commercialised.
Won the 2025 Philips Innovation Award Rough Diamond League.
Won the Rough Diamond League of the Philips Innovation Award, the Netherlands’ largest student entrepreneurship competition, which recognises promising early-stage startup teams.
Other Positive Signals
- Expanded to a five-person team spanning technology, strategy, software and machine learning.
- Won the 2024 Health Impact Accelerator after completing its 10-week program.
Team
Chanel Sam
Founder & CEO
- Co-authored the BeSSPI preterm sleep-stage method, validated in 69 infants across 10,922 minutes of observation with 0.80 inter-rater agreement.
- Co-authored a 2022 Sleep Medicine review of behavioral sleep-stage classification methods for preterm infants at UMC Utrecht and Wilhelmina Children's Hospital.
- Completed a master's in Neuroscience and Cognition and a one-year neonatal intensive-care internship at Wilhelmina Children's Hospital before starting I See U.
Product
I See U Baby Care is developing a camera-based system that measures premature infants' sleep without attaching sensors to the baby. The system gives neonatal teams a continuous view of sleep state and is designed to fit into existing neonatal-care workflows without adding contact sensors or interrupting routine care.
Non-contact bedside observation
A camera positioned above the incubator or bed captures visual behavior without adding electrodes or wearable sensors. The setup is designed for neonatal environments where minimizing extra contact and handling is important.
Real-time sleep-state classification
Machine-learning software analyses video and classifies sleep-wake state continuously, translating behavior that can be difficult to interpret at the bedside into a simple real-time view for care teams and families.
Hospital-ready privacy architecture
Uses federated learning so sensitive neonatal video remains within each hospital while the model improves across clinical sites. The setup is designed to support integration into existing NICU workflows.
Market Overview
Preterm infants require intensive monitoring and frequent clinical interaction during a period when uninterrupted sleep is important for brain development. Hospitals already manage care around infant sleep, but sleep state is still difficult to assess reliably at the bedside.
I See U is targeting that measurement gap within established neonatal-care workflows. A non-contact system that helps staff identify sleep state could support better timing of routine care while fitting alongside existing NICU monitoring infrastructure. This gives the company a focused entry point within an established hospital monitoring environment.
WHO estimated 13.4 million babies were born before 37 completed weeks of gestation in 2020.
The average U.S. NICU stay costs around $70,000, highlighting the economic intensity of neonatal care.
The neonatal monitoring-device market was valued at $3.34 billion globally in 2025.
In a Dutch study, 91.8% of neonatal professionals said they adapted elective care timing to sleep.
Comparable Outcomes
EarlySense
EarlySense developed contact-free continuous monitoring technology using sensors and algorithms to track heart and respiratory rates without wearable leads, giving hospital teams continuous patient-status alerts. In 2021, Hillrom acquired the hospital monitoring technology for $30M cash plus other consideration, with up to $10M in contingent payments.
Itamar Medical
Itamar Medical developed WatchPAT, a device for diagnosing sleep apnea at home. It moved sleep testing outside specialist laboratories and made it easier to access. ZOLL Medical acquired Itamar Medical in 2021 in a transaction valued at approximately $538 million.
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Sources
This profile was built from public company materials, ecosystem sources, market references, and professional profiles.