SHANGHAI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--One of the fastest growing companies in the global robotic and digital surgery space, Ronovo Surgical recently announced successful closing of new financing to accelerate its vision of broad, cross-specialty adoption of robotic-assisted surgery (RAS). The latest round of financing arms Ronovo with more than $50M raised since 2020. Led by LongRiver Investments (LRI), this round garnered continued support from existing investors – Lilly Asia Ventures, Vivo Capital, Matrix Partners China and GGV Capital – with CEC Capital acting as exclusive financial advisor.
Exiting stealth mode, Ronovo unveils its inaugural robotic platform – Carina™, an innovative modular system built on proprietary technology to enable configurable robotic assistance for laparoscopic surgeries across multiple specialties. This round of oversubscribed financing will accelerate the multi-discipline clinical trial for Carina, strengthen R&D and clinical applications development, and further bolster the company’s deeply experienced talent base.
Developed in collaboration with renowned Chinese laparoscopic surgeons, Carina addresses numerous pain points in minimally invasive surgeries (MIS) with a modular and nimble robotic solution. The system provides surgeons flexibility to choose the best instruments and the most ideal anatomical access based on laparoscopy foundation. In this way, surgeons can leverage – rather than abandon – prior laparoscopic training and continue to improve upon their surgical performance, allowing for MIS in more surgical specialties to be performed robotically.
The innovative modular architecture of Carina minimizes equipment footprint to maximize utilization of precious OR space, thus becoming much more adaptable to typical OR environments in China. The surgical team can choose between 3-module or 4-module configuration depending on the expected complexity of the procedure, and the individual modules are freely mobile to join others as needed in different ORs. Surgeons can also choose from a full suite of instruments to arm each module. Ultimately, the fluidity in configuration translates to balancing clinical capability and procedural cost, resulting in improved usability for the surgical team, higher utilization for the hospital, and reduced economic burden on the patient.
Altogether, the differentiated clinical capabilities and economic viability of the Carina system are poised to rapidly accelerate the adoption of robotic MIS in general surgery, gynecology, thoracic surgery, urology and other specialties. These specialties currently see nearly 10 million MIS patients annually in China, with 120,000 laparoscopic surgeons in over 10,000 hospitals.
“We are extremely grateful to our investors for their confidence in Ronovo’s strategy to democratize robotic surgery,” said Dr. John Ma, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Ronovo. “From inception, we have stayed true to our belief that innovation must start from an original pursuit to solve actual unmet clinical needs.”
“Carina is designed with modular architecture to overcome the limited adoption of robotic MIS beyond urology,” said Dr. Ying Mao, Co-Founder and CTO of Ronovo. “Thanks to the ingenuity and expertise of our talented team, we have achieved breakthrough in our core robotic technology for the Carina platform.”
“We are proud to have led this round of financing in Ronovo and its innovative modular robotic platform, which will be first-to-market in China,” commented Jiang Zhang, Founder and CEO of LRI “We are incredibly excited to partner with Ronovo to accelerate their product and clinical development, and we strongly believe in the clinical and commercial value of a modular robotic system as well as its viability for international adoption.”
While Carina was developed with Chinese laparoscopic surgeons as the use case, early discussions with robotic surgery KOLs in US and Europe indicate the system’s strong potential to overcome current barriers of broad RAS adoptions in many international markets. Ronovo plans to continue discussions with clinical KOLs, strategic partners and global investors at upcoming conferences worldwide, including the LSI Emerging Medtech Summit, MedTech Strategist Innovation Summit, and Society of Robotic & Digital Surgery.
About Ronovo Surgical
Founded in 2019, Ronovo Surgical is accelerating the transition to truly intelligent MIS through innovative robotic and digital solutions. It is the only soft tissue robotic surgery company in China led by seasoned industry leaders with expertise in both commercial leadership and technology development. Founder and CEO John Ma is former SVP at Intuitive and Global Partner at Fosun Group. Co-Founder and CTO Ying Mao is former systems engineering lead at Auris Health (now J&J Ethicon) and founder of Dreamworld AR. With more than two decades of leadership experience combined specifically in the development and commercialization of surgical robotics systems, they now lead a seasoned core team that represents deep product development and implementation expertise in surgical robotics, industrial robotics, medical capital equipment, and medical consumables from Chinese and multinational manufacturers. Additionally, Ronovo has significant global clinical and technical resources, having established long-term partnerships with numerous clinical and technical advisors.
For more information, please visit: http://www.ronovosurgical.com/.
About LongRiver Investments
Established in 2022, LongRiver Investments (LRI) specializes in VC investment in the healthcare and technology sectors in Greater China, with the goal of helping startups grow through expanded business connections and sharing long-term returns. Founder Jiang Zhang served in various leadership roles at a world-leading integrated financial group, including founding Ping An Insurance group’s VC/PE investment team in 2012. For the past decade, his team raised multiple funds in USD and RMB, investing in more than 40 healthcare and technology companies around the world – 16 of which listed on domestic and foreign exchanges. Having collaborated with numerous well-reputed industry partners, LRI endeavors to build an industry ecosystem, leverage global resources to drive industrial development, and cultivate the next generation of industry leaders.
About CEC Capital
Founded in 2000, CEC Capital is a leading investment bank in China with a core focus on TMT, consumer and healthcare sectors. Headquartered in Beijing with offices in Shanghai, Los Angeles and San Francisco, CEC provides M&A, capital raising and asset management services to clients in and outside of China.
