Cambridge-headquartered CMR Surgical has received investment from SoftBank as part of a $165m (£133m) funding round for its medical robots.
Founded in 2014, the company’s Versius robots provide assistance for procedures including hernia repairs, colectomies, sacrocolpopexies, lobectomies and hysterectomies.
CMR Surgical’s robot assistants have now carried out over 15,000 surgeries since passing EU safety laws in 2019.
There are now more than 140 of its robots based in operating theatres globally, such as the Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
“Versius is very well suited to our needs as a world-leading thoracic surgery department,” said 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 programme working with CMR and other centres around the world as the adoption of Versius continues.”
CMR Surgical cited market statistics that value the soft-tissue robotic-assisted minimal access surgery sector excess of $7bn (£5.7bn) each year.
“The benefits of minimal access surgery 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,” said Supratim Bose, CEO of CMR Surgical.
Its fundraising was led by Ally Bridge Group, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Escala Capital, LGT, Lightrock, RPMI Railpen, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Tencent and Watrium.
All of these firms are previous shareholders.
In August, CMR Surgical was given accreditation for its robotics surgical training programme by the Royal College of Surgeons of England.