ForSight Robotics is a surgical robotics startup specializing in ophthalmologic surgery. Their flagship offering is the ORYOM Platform, a hybrid intraocular robotic system designed to perform delicate eye surgeries—initially cataract operations—with high precision, consistency, and scalability. Pulse 2.0 interviewed ForSight Robotics’ co-founder, President, and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Joseph Nathan, MD, MSc, to gain a deeper understanding of the company.
Dr. Joseph Nathan’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Dr. Nathan said:
“I have always been fascinated by the intricacies of multidisciplinary technologies and their vast potential in medical applications. I received my BSc and MSc in engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, I went on to pursue my MD degree at the Technion, followed by three years of residency in ophthalmic surgery. I also directed healthcare commercialization at the Technion, and served as Director of New Ventures for the Technion’s Alfred Mann Institute, a $100M joint venture incubating medical startups. As an entrepreneur with a technological and a clinical background, my passion has always revolved around medical technologies, and I am proud to be a co-founder of ForSight Robotics.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Dr. Nathan shared:
“In residency, I learned firsthand the high level of precision and accuracy required of surgeons to ensure safe surgeries, and the physical toll these highly technical procedures take. The learning curve ophthalmic surgeons face is steep, and the high skill level needed can take decades to master. I realized that inconsistent clinical results, coupled with the high volume of patients and lack of surgeons posed a global vision crisis that required a technological solution.”
“I came together with Professor Moshe Shoham (founder of Mazor Robotics, the first robotic surgery platform for spine applications, which was acquired by Medtronic) and Daniel Glozman, PhD (inventor of the XACT Robotics surgical system). We knew there was a better way to deliver more accurate patient care, ensure better outcomes, and ease surgeon burnout. We also recognized that cataract surgery, as the most widely performed surgery in medicine due to the high prevalence of cataract formation (part of the natural aging process), was optimal for robotics due to the highly standardized and very repetitive protocol of the procedure.”
“We understood that there is no human way to close the gap between the increasing number of patients and the decreasing number of surgeons. We were inspired to found ForSight Robotics to create a robotic surgery platform, driven by AI and advanced robotics technology, that supports ophthalmic surgeons worldwide to address the 1.1B people globally who are suffering from preventable vision impairment while significantly elevating the level of care.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working at ForSight Robotics so far? Dr. Nathan reflected:
“It has been a privilege to build our incredible team. From the very first day, we have brought on the brightest minds from the global tech ecosystem – bringing in talented individuals from leading defense, medical, and big tech companies, who have utilized their expertise and experience to build our first-of-its-kind platform. Alongside our employees, we have been fortunate to join forces with surgical robotics pioneers who make up our strategic advisory board – including Dr. Fred Moll (founder of Intuitive Surgical and Auris Health), who is also part of our Board of Directors, and Rony Abovitz (founder of Mako Surgical and Magic Leap) – and the leading ophthalmic surgeons in the world, who make up our clinical advisory board.”
“Building the team and seeing our vision come to life has been an incredible part of the journey.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Dr. Nathan explained:
“ForSight has developed the world’s first robotic surgery platform for cataracts and other eye diseases, the ORYOM Platform. The platform benefits both the patient and surgeon: the surgeon is empowered with robotic technology to provide top-tier surgical care, while increasing precision and minimizing suboptimal outcomes – all while increasing patient access to high-quality treatment.”
“Our technology directly addresses the main challenges ophthalmic surgeons face with manual surgery. Today, it takes surgeons at least 15 years on average to reach peak performance, and many are often held back due to lack of access to top-tier mentorship and learning opportunities. Nearly 2 out of 3 surgeons experience musculoskeletal issues, and 15% retire early due to the physical pain and discomfort. The ORYOM Platform aims to shorten the long learning curve in ophthalmic surgery and provide a surgeon-centered ergonomic design – allowing ophthalmic surgeons to continue operating longer, and treat more patients throughout their careers. In addition, the technology provides enhanced 3D image guidance and augmentation, and actionable data to improve surgical technique. The ORYOM Platform offers micron-level precision with 14 degrees of freedom, delivering access to every point within the human eye. This allows treatment of the front (cataract) and back (retinal, glaucoma) parts of the eye. Beginning with cataract, future iterations of the platform will expand the indications which we can target, furthering ForSight’s impact on addressing ophthalmic care holistically.”
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in your sector of work recently? Dr. Nathan acknowledged:
“Like any deep tech company building a first-of-its-kind technology, we’ve faced various challenges and opportunities, including in aligning advanced engineering with clinical realities while managing long development timelines and building up a top-tier team. Building surgical robotics requires cross-disciplinary coordination between hardware, AI-driven software, and real-world clinical needs. This unique combination requires the highest human capital with a multi-disciplinary background and broad expertise.”
“From tight collaboration between teams, to more rigorous design processes, we have been able to build a highly connected team that reflects the cross-displine required to build a robotic surgery platform in a very short time. By recognizing potential technological challenges early on, we were able to de-reskify our processes and reach a clinical platform in record speed. Every challenge has helped us build a more resilient, impactful product and has reinforced the value of adaptability, persistence and shared purpose among our team.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Dr. Nathan noted:
“Since the company’s founding, we have focused on developing the best robotic surgery platform that would benefit all stakeholders. This includes iterating and utilizing feedback from dozens of surgeons, including our esteemed Clinical Advisory Board, to reach our current technology. Last year, Dr. David F. Chang demonstrated our ORYOM Platform’s capabilities, showcasing a full robotic cataract procedure at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ASCRS) annual meeting. With advancing technological features, including AI-based features, accelerating the advancement of our technology, we are excited to share more details about the evolution of the ORYOM Platform in the coming months.”
“To date, ForSight has successfully completed over 300 robotic cataract procedures on an animal eye model (performed by over 25 surgeons). We are gearing up for first-in-human clinical trials for robotic cataract surgery with our ORYOM Platform, which will be performed later this year.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Dr. Nathan cited:
“As we reflect on our successful completion of over 300 cataract procedures on an animal eye model, we look forward to another significant milestone: beginning clinical trials. We are also experiencing an exciting period of rapid growth at the company. In the past year, we have expanded our executive team, added ‘the father of robotic surgery,’ Dr. Fred Moll, to our Board of Directors, grew our team to over 100 employees, and achieved our ISO 13485:2016 certification. Our recent ISO 13485:2016 certification is also especially exciting as it marks a critical regulatory milestone that showcases our progress and commitment to safety and quality as we work to bring sight-saving surgery to all.”
Funding
When asking Dr. Nathan about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“We’re proud to share that we recently raised $125M in our Series B round, led by Eclipse. The round also included participation from Dr. Fred Moll, the Adani Group, Reiya Ventures, and other existing investors, bringing ForSight’s total funding to $195M. This is one of the largest Series B rounds in surgical robotics, and follows our record-breaking Series A round from a few years ago – also one of the largest in the industry.”
“The investment marks an exciting milestone as we accelerate the next growth phase for the ORYOM Platform. We believe ophthalmology represents the next frontier in surgical robotics, and with the power of robotics and AI, we’re well-positioned to redefine what’s possible in eye surgery. We are grateful to our partners who share our vision and are helping us shape the future of medical robotics.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Dr. Nathan affirmed:
“Unlike general surgery, which has utilized robotics technology since Intuitive Surgical introduced its da Vinci platform in the early 2000s, the ophthalmic medical community has not yet seen robotics technology introduced to the field. Due to the extremely small and delicate nature of the eye, there has not been an abundance of technology that can be easily adapted to ophthalmology – until recent developments. As patients seek the same level of advanced technological care they receive across the healthcare system, ophthalmologists are looking for the field to “catch up” technologically to other specialties that have had robotic surgery for years.”
“As the first company building a robotic surgery platform for cataracts and other widespread eye diseases, ForSight Robotics is building on this growing momentum, with AI and automation accelerating the advancement of our technology. We’ve assembled a world-class team of robotic surgery pioneers, globally recognized eye surgeons, and some of the brightest minds in AI and robotics, keen to deliver world-class technology that utilizes AI-based algorithms, advanced computer vision, and micromechanics to redefine ophthalmic surgery and bring hope to millions of patients worldwide.”
“A key differentiator for ForSight is the remarkable human capital. Specifically, as part of our team, we have assembled a number of pioneers who have built the most successful robotic surgery companies, which account for over 80% of the market. Among them are Dr. Fred Moll, founder of Intuitive Surgical (da Vinci robotic system for over a dozen specialties), Rony Abovitz, founder of Mako (first orthopedic robotic surgery platform, acquired by Stryker), and Prof. Moshe Shoham, founder of Mazor Robotics (first surgical robotics platform for spine applications, acquired by Medtronic). These industry leaders have successfully built multiple robotic surgery companies from the ground up and led their teams and technologies through the entire product and company lifecycle, including successful commercialization and, in some cases, the largest acquisitions in the industry. As such, building on their deep levels of expertise and decades-long experience, we are able to accelerate development cycles, sidestep common pitfalls, and navigate challenges with better results.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Dr. Nathan emphasized:
“We founded ForSight Robotics with a clear mission: to democratize access to high-quality surgical eye care worldwide. We believe that sight is a basic human right, and seek to eradicate preventable blindness. Guided by this vision, we are committed to bringing sight-saving procedures to as many people as possible around the world.”
“We are beginning by addressing the most common eye disease, cataract – with over 600 million patients worldwide – with our ORYOM Platform. The robotic surgery platform has been designed to reach every part of the human eye. As such, we are working on expanding to additional indications beyond cataract, including glaucoma and retinal diseases. We are also working on developing increasingly automated surgical steps to further support surgeons in providing highly-precise and consistent high-quality treatment.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Dr. Nathan concluded:
“As part of the natural aging process, everyone is vulnerable to vision impairment and ultimately, cataract formation. As such, receiving timely, top-tier surgical treatment is crucial to restoring patients’ lives.”
“While cataract surgery’s primary benefit is the improvement of visual acuity, which increases by 95% following cataract surgery, this surgery also improves mental health and overall quality of life, making it an invaluable procedure for the increasing aging population globally. In fact, patients have seen an 18% decrease in depression and/or anxiety in the year following cataract surgery, which results in a 28% reduction in corresponding mental health care costs.”
“With improved sharpness of vision following cataract surgery, patients can almost immediately return to doing the activities and hobbies they love, and maintain independence with the ability to return to driving with an increased sense of confidence and safety. Beyond improved quality of life, cataract surgery can also have important health benefits. Cataract surgery reduced the risk of developing dementia by 25%, and has also been associated with a 4% improvement in short-term cognitive performance.”
“Cataract surgery goes beyond improving vision – it improves day-to-day life, which makes democratizing access to top-tier cataract surgery even more important. By introducing robotics to cataract and other ophthalmic surgeries, we can ensure that more patients around the world will receive the gift of sight back to experience life to the fullest.”
