Mendaera – a Silicon Valley-based healthcare technology company developing a handheld robotic interventional platform – announced the closing of $73 million in Series B funding led by Threshold Ventures, with participation from investors including Lux Capital, PFM Health Sciences, and Fred Moll (founder of Intuitive Surgical and Auris Health). The funding will further Mendaera’s efforts to scale robotics and AI across mainstream medical procedures.
The healthcare system has been facing an increasing supply and demand crisis, where the ability to deliver high-quality care to patients consistently is hampered by healthcare provider shortages and rising costs. And this problem is pronounced for commonplace procedures that exist along most patient journeys between initial consultation, recovery, and critical procedures like biopsies, organ and vascular access, and pain management interventions.
This is known as the messy middle of healthcare, where demand is high and skills are hard to acquire. Even though other industries deploy robotics to improve quality and workforce productivity, robots in healthcare have been primarily limited to high-end and singularly focused surgeries.
Mendaera is creating a new category in medical robotics, making advanced technologies readily available for these foundational everyday procedures. Its handheld interventional platform includes robotics, AI, real-time imaging, and virtual connectivity and is designed to be accessible across specialties and sites of service to empower providers and systems to meet the growing demand for needle-based interventions better. By distributing care for this ubiquitous but often-overlooked category of procedures, Mendaera aims to improve hundreds of millions of patient encounters per year and drive systemwide efficiencies.
Mendaera will use the new funding to complete the development of its robotic technology, accelerate the development of its AI and connectivity capabilities, and begin clinically introducing its platform. Earlier this year, Mendaera announced that it had acquired the telepresence technology of Avail Medsystems to expand its portfolio to include virtual connectivity. Last year, Mendaera announced a commercial agreement with the point-of-care ultrasound company Butterfly Network.
KEY QUOTES:
“Traditional surgical robots have established footing in the operating room. But robotics and AI have evolved to a point where we can deliver broader benefits across all parts of the healthcare system and enable higher standards of care for more patients. We believe that our technology will allow healthcare systems and providers to provision medical procedures at scale – enhancing patient experience, increasing access to high-quality care, reducing overall cost, and improving healthcare provider satisfaction.”
-Josh DeFonzo, Founder and CEO of Mendaera
“Mendaera has the unique ability to improve the patient experience and make high-quality care widely accessible. Amidst rising healthcare costs and labor shortages impacting quality and affordability, it is imperative to harness advanced technology to revolutionize healthcare delivery. We are thrilled to join forces with the dynamic Mendaera team, comprising the most innovative and accomplished leaders in medical robotics and software.”
-Emily Melton, Founder and Managing Partner at Threshold Ventures
