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Memic Innovative Surgery closed a $96 million Series D financing round. The Tel Aviv, Israel-based company develops Hominis, the first FDA-approved robotically-assisted surgical device for performing transvaginal hysterectomy. The FDA approved the Hominis system last month.

Hominis is designed to remove the uterus using minimally invasive surgical instruments inserted through the vagina, as well as a video camera inserted laparoscopically through a small incision on the abdomen. The transvaginal approach requires fewer incisions on the abdomen compared to the traditional laparoscopic hysterectomy.

Surgeons in the operating room control instruments during the procedure through the Hominis system console, for which the FDA will require Memic to develop and provide a training program for surgeons and operating room staff to complete before operating the device.

Memic plans to use funding to support the commercialization of the Hominis platform in the U.S. and potentially elsewhere as marketing and sales efforts in other countries are expected to be expanded. Further uses of the funds include the company’s continued research and development efforts and the expansion of Memic’s portfolio of products, as well as a manufacturing scale-up and improved customer support and training.

Memic Innovative Surgery’s Hominis system for transvaginal hysterectomy. | Credit: Memic Innovative Surgery

Peregrine Ventures and Ceros led the financing round with participation from Ourcrowd and Accelmed.

“The Hominis system represents a significant advancement in the growing multi-billion-dollar robotic surgery market,” said Memic co-founder & CEO Dvir Cohen. “This financing positions us to accelerate our commercialization efforts and bring Hominis to both surgeons and patients in the months ahead.”

The FDA evaluated the safety and effectiveness of the system in a trial of 30 patients undergoing transvaginal total hysterectomy with salpingo-oophorectomy or salpingectomy for benign conditions. All 30 of the procedures done with Hominis were successfully completed with no conversions to an open laparoscopic surgical approach or another form of such an approach. Minor blood loss, urinary tract infection and the delayed healing of the closure made at the top of the vagina were observed as adverse events during the procedures.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on our sister website MassDevice.