China’s Zhejiang Silk Road Fund has participated in a US$100 million series B round in CMR Surgical Ltd, a British company developing surgical robots.
Existing investors including Escala Capital Investments, LGT, Cambridge Innovation Capital and Watrium, also participated in the round, according to CMR Surgical’s announcement.
Founded in 2014, the Cambridge-headquartered firm has developed the universal robotic system Versius for minimal access surgery. The company is conducting pre-clinical trials, demonstrating the ability of its Versius system to perform upper gastrointestinal, gynecological, colorectal and renal surgery.
The proceeds of this round will be used to prepare CMR Surgical’s Versius system for planned commercialization. Activities will include the completion of validation studies for regulatory approval processes in both Europe and the USA, international expansion, and commercial scale-up.
In 2017, the firm raised a US$46 million seires A round from Cambridge Innovation Capital, LGT Global Invest, Escala Capital and ABB Technology Ventures and others.
Backed by Zhejiang government, Zhejiang Silk Road Fund is a joint outbound investment effort among state-owned businesses, state-owned banks and Zhejiang local private companies. It focuses on advanced manufacturing, healthcare, energy and consumer sector. Its first phase fund was worth RMB5 billion (US$780 million).
Source: China Money Network
