Vicarious Surgical raises $13.2M toward commercializing surgical robotics, VR

Vicarious Surgical Inc. last week announced that it has raised $13.2 million in funding. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company said the latest investment will help it develop and commercialize its product, which applies robotics and virtual reality to minimally invasive surgery.

In 2014, Adam Sachs and Sammy Khalifa co-founded Vicarious Surgical along with Dr. Barry Greene, a board-certified bariatric and general surgeon. The company has patented its virtual reality robot-assisted surgical system.

Vicarious raised funding of $16.8 million in 2018, plus $10 million in January 2019. In December 2019, its surgical robot was the first to receive “Breakthrough Device” designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Investors join Vicarious Surgical board

Philip Liang of E15 Capital led the round, with participation from existing investors Bill Gates, Khosla Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, and AME Cloud Ventures. The company also added Liang and Ric Fulop, the founding CEO of Desktop Metal, to its board of directors.

“As we approach clinical use with our first product, I am thrilled to bring on Phil, E15 Capital, and the experience of their team,” stated Sachs, CEO of Vicarious Surgical. “Adding both the capital and E15’s experience in this industry will be invaluable to our success. This is a great milestone and a strong start to the next phase of our growth as a company.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to join Adam and the Vicarious Surgical team in their mission to offer high quality surgical care across the world,” said Phillip Liang, Managing Director of E15 Capital. “I’ve been incredibly impressed with the progress the Vicarious Surgical team has made. As an investor in surgical robotics, this is the type of company and founder you hope to find. I am excited to bring our industry experience to the existing team and to drive this company towards helping patients, surgeons, and hospitals across the world.”

The company said Fulop brings his experience building two unicorn startups to its board of directors. “I’m proud to be part of such an incredible team, and excited to help their mission to improve patient care, surgeon experience, and reduce cost from the healthcare system,” he said.