CMR Surgical Raises $165 Million in Funding

CMR Surgical has garnered $165 million (£133 million) in funding from all its major existing investors, including Ally Bridge Group, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Escala Capital, LGT, Lightrock, RPMI Railpen, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Tencent and Watrium.

The money will be used to drive continued product innovation, including new technological developments, and to further commercialize the company’s Versius Surgical Robotic System in key existing, and new, geographies. Verius has been used to perform more than 15,000 surgeries globally, spanning over 130 complex and benign procedure types including colectomies, hernia repairs, hysterectomies, sacrocolpopexies, and lobectomies across seven surgical specialties. The 15,000-plus procedures have been performed in various-sized hospitals, including such research facilities as Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (U.K.), Institute Curie (France), Policlinico di Milano (Italy), Max Super Specialty Hospital (India), the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) (Pakistan), Hospital Moinhos de Vento (Brazil), Gleneagles Hospital (Hong Kong) and Klinikum Chemnitz GmbH (Germany).

“At Lightrock, we are committed to supporting innovators who make a positive contribution to humanity and the planet. We have always been impressed by not only CMR’s product, Versius, but also its people,” Lightrock and CMR Surgical Chairman Umur Hursever said. “CMR is one of those innovators who are blazing its own trail with Versius, a differentiated robotic experience that democratises robotic surgery both procedurally and geographically. With this latest raise, we are delighted to be supporting CMR in its mission to make robotic keyhole surgery available to everyone.”

Versius fits into virtually any operating room set-up and integrates seamlessly into existing workflows, increasing the likelihood of robotic minimal access surgery (MAS). Its small, portable, modular design enables surgeons to use only the number of arms needed for a given procedure. Biomimicking the human arm, Versius gives surgeons the choice of optimized port placement alongside the dexterity and accuracy of small fully-wristed instruments. With 3D HD vision, easy-to adopt instrument control and a choice of ergonomic working positions, the open surgeon console can potentially reduce stress and fatigue and allows for clear communication with the surgical team. Versius also captures meaningful data with its wider digital ecosystem to support a surgeon’s continuous learning. Through the Versius Connect app, Versius Trainer and CMR clinical registry, Versius unleashes a wealth of insights to ultimately improve surgical care.

“Versius is very well suited to our thoracic surgery department needs,” stated Adam Peryt, consultant thoracic surgeon at Royal Papworth Hospital. “We have successfully helped patients get the benefit of robotic assisted surgery and we look forward to developing our robotics program working with CMR and other centers around the world as the adoption of Versius continues.”

The company’s clinical milestone and financing announcement follows the recent news that it has received the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) accreditation for its global professional education portfolio. The accreditation by RCS England is an internationally recognised hallmark of quality and serves as a recognition of excellence for the Versius surgical training program. Versius also has received a King’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation.

“I am proud of our teams and what CMR stands for as we pass this latest milestone and work towards our vision of making minimal access surgery available to everyone. The benefits of MAS for patients are enormous and I am excited to see the continued adoption of Versius around the world, and the positive impact it is having on hospitals, surgeons, and, ultimately, their patients,” CMR Surgical CEO Supratim Bose said. “More surgeons and patients are benefiting from Versius and our latest funding round will allow us to serve even more customers, supporting our continued growth in existing markets, as well as expansion into new key markets. Versius’ unique versatility and differentiated offering, enabled by its patented V-wrist technology, continues to receive positive feedback from hospitals and surgical teams. We are inspired by its potential to change the way the world receives surgical care.”

Established in 2014, CMR Surgical aims to make minimal access surgery (MAS) more accessible and affordable with Versius, a small, modular, versatile surgical robotic system. Versius gained CE Mark approval in 2019, and today, more than 140 Versius systems have been installed in hospitals worldwide across the United Kingdom, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Headquartered in Cambridge, U.K., CMR is backed by an international shareholder base.