CMR Surgical raises $165m for growth with15k procedures completed by Versius
CMR Surgical has raised $165million to support continued growth as its key product, the Versius surgical robotic system, passes the 15,000 surgical procedures milestone.
Since incorporating in 2014 with a mission to transform lives by making minimal access surgery (MAS) more accessible and affordable, the Versius, having gained CE approval in 2019, has sold into 140 hospitals across the world.
CMR, which was co-founded by Martin Frost, has ridden the wave and the global soft-tissue robotic-assisted MAS market is now estimated to be worth over $7bn per year and is growing at over 15 per cent a year.
Frost handed over the CEO reins to Per Vegard Nerseth in 2020. His tenure lasted until March of this year but if his departure was abrupt his replacement, Supratim Bose, has proved to be a hugely resourceful and sagacious leader.
He said: “I am incredibly 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.”
The funding round of $165m, “increased from the initial base size due to strong internal demand”, was led by all of 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 funds are to be used “to drive continued product innovation, including new technological developments, and to support the further commercialisation of the system in key existing, and new, geographies”.
Adam Peryt, consultant thoracic surgeon at Royal Papworth Hospital, said: “Versius is very well-suited to our needs as a world-leading thoracic surgery department. We have successfully helped patients get the benefit of robotic-assisted surgery and we look forward to developing our robotics programme working with CMR and other centres around the world as the adoption of Versius continues.”
Umur Hursever, partner at Lightrock and chairman at CMR Surgical, added: “At Lightrock, we are committed to supporting innovators who make a positive contribution to humanity and the planet.
“With this latest raise, we are delighted to be supporting CMR in its mission to make robotic keyhole surgery available to everyone.”
The news follows the recent announcement that CMR has received the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) accreditation for its global professional education portfolio.
The 15,000 procedures have been performed in a range of differently sized hospitals, including globally-renowned research hospitals such as Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (UK), Institute Curie (France), Policlinico di Milano (Italy), Max Super Specialty Hospital (India), the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) (Pakistan), Unimed Litoral Hospital (Brazil), Gleneagles Hospital (Hong Kong) and Klinikum Chemnitz GmbH (Germany).
