Galen Robotics, a company based on technology commercialized from Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, has raised $15 million in an oversubscribed series A funding round.
The company is going all in on a new approach called "digital-surgery-as-a-service" that melds surgical data capture and robotics. Galen recently submitted a collaborative soft tissue surgical robot for FDA consideration.
"Because the pandemic wreaked havoc on hospital profits with elective surgeries being postponed, we had to pivot our business model from hospitals paying upfront for capital equipment to 'as a service,'" Galen President and CEO Bruce Lichorowic said in a Nov. 1 company news release. "We will be the first robotic company to launch using an on-demand business model."
The robot would be used for minimally invasive surgeries, initially focusing on laryngological procedures.
"We watched this team take an early surgical robotic prototype from Johns Hopkins University's robotics lab, develop it into a potential game changer, and submit it to FDA — all during a pandemic," stated Aaron Berez, MD, managing director of lead funder Ambix Healthcare Partners.