Rea Diagnostics: The Venture Leader Medtech helping obstetricians decrease neonatal mortalities

16.05.2022 17:00, Tracy Woodley

For the second consecutive year, the Venture Leaders Medtech will represent Swiss innovation in the United States. To select the 10 featured startups, a jury of professional investors and medtech experts reviewed 60 applications. These startups improve diagnostics, treatments, and well-being with innovative solutions that cover artificial intelligence, sensors, smart devices, and robotics. Allow us to introduce you to each of the Venture Leaders Medtech 2022 ahead of the June 2022 roadshow in Boston and Cambridge: Meet Loulia Kassem, the CEO of Rea.

Rea develops wearable technology that tracks the biochemical markers of preterm birth. This solution allows doctors to continuously monitor pregnant women who are at risk of preterm birth and anticipate an early delivery. Preterm birth is the leading cause of death among children less than five years of age, and every year an estimated 15 million babies are born preterm. Today, all existing medical examinations that monitor the risk of a preterm birth require invasive inspections of pregnant women. These tests must be performed by a medical professional in a hospital setting, which significantly limits the number of pregnant women who can be tested. Rea’s technology could enable obstetricians to provide personalized prophylactic treatments to decrease neonatal mortalities and morbidities.

Name: Loulia Kassem
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
Nationality: Syrian
Graduated from: University of Bologna, M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology (2019) 
Job title: Co-founder and CEO of Rea Diagnostics SA
Number of employees: 8
Money raised: CHF 1.5 million
First touchpoint with Venturelab: Venture Kick in 2019


Explain in one or two short sentences what your startup does and why. 
Rea develops the latest diagnostic technology to detect the risk of preterm birth from home.

How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup? 
My co-founder, Erick Garcia Cordero, wrote his PhD thesis on wearables for diagnostics. After a family tragedy, he started investigating how he could use his skills to contribute to pregnancy care technology. A few months later, we came up with the concept of a smart sanitary pad to monitor the risk of preterm birth from home.

What do you expect from the Venture Leaders Medtech roadshow, and how will it help you achieve your vision?
Our main goal is to bring Rea’s medical device to the U.S. market. The Venture Leaders roadshow is connecting us to the medtech ecosystem in the United States (regulators, insurers, medical providers, industry leaders and experts). We aim to present our technology to key opinion leaders in obstetrics and gynecology to establish a collaboration with at least one hospital in the Boston area. Moreover, we’d like to invite U.S. investors and VCs to participate in our first private investment round. 

What is the one talent you wish you had? 
Latin dance. 

What is a topic you would like to learn more about and why? 
Mesopotamia. It’s one of the most ancient civilizations in history. The more I read, the more I realize that I want to learn more about it. I’m amazed by its rich mythologies, thoughts, philosophies, and literature, and I think they relate to modern culture. 

What is your favorite podcast and why? 
How to Start a Startup by Y Combinator. It’s a series of talks by world experts covering key topics for startups. I find it very insightful. 

What is always in your fridge? 
Milk, cheese, and chocolate. 

What are you most proud of? 
Having started my first business at 21 years old. Although I was an inexperienced young female in a male-dominated environment, I managed to find my way through. This was a strong base for my present and future career. I strongly advise young female graduates to fully explore their capacities. 

What was your favorite subject in school and why? 
Biology. It was fascinating for me to learn about the human body, how it works, how diseases develop, and how medicines could save people’s lives. Discovering this passion made it very easy for me to choose my life career later on. I wanted to contribute to improving people’s health. 

Where and when are you most productive? 
In my office after working hours, from 6 to 9 PM, when there are no distractions, no meetings to attend, and no emails to reply to. 

What is the most challenging aspect of being a founder? 
Maintaining a work-life balance. The 24 hours in a day are often not enough to get things done, especially when you are so passionate about what you do. 

What is the most rewarding aspect of being a founder? 
Seeing your long-held vision become a reality and having a team of incredibly talented people that back you up and share your vision. 

For more information and updates on Rea and the Venture Leaders Medtech 2022, follow #VLeadersMedtech on Twitter or on www.venture-leaders.ch/medtech. 

The Venture Leaders Medtech program is organized by Venturelab and supported by EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, Hansjo?rg Wyss, Helbling Technik, Kellerhals Carrard, Paul Scherrer Institut, Swissnex Boston, Canton of Vaud, Canton of Zurich, and Venture Leader alumnus Dominik Lysek.