CMR Surgical has raised an impressive Series B round to develop a robotic arm to help during surgery that mirrors the movement of a human arm.
CMR Surgical, based in Cambridge, UK, has raised $100M (€85M) in Series B funding to bring its surgical robot technology closer to a market launch in Europe and the US. The technology is currently in preclinical development. Cambridge Innovation Capital participated in the fundraising.
The Versius system, as the robot technology is called, is inspired by the human arm. It uses five robotic arms with wrist-like joints that are equipped with a range of surgical instruments. The robotic arms monitor their position and the force they exert, which gives them a high degree of dexterity and precision. Moreover, the system is portable and can be used for a variety of procedures, from general surgery to gastrointestinal, gynecological, urological, renal and colorectal surgeries.
Hospitals are increasingly turning to robotic surgery for the greater precision and dexterity it offers surgeons for minimally invasive procedures. The rising trend of robotic surgery could lead to shorter hospitalization periods and reduce pain for patients. Currently, California-based Intuitive Surgical dominates the surgical robot market since 2000, when the FDA approved its surgical robot, called da Vinci. Along with the news from CMR Surgical, the French company Quantum Surgical just raised $50M (€42M) to develop this technology for cancer applications.
Image by CMR Surgical