六年前，一家医疗机器人初创公司以一个木制手臂原型开始运作，现在已经在世界各地的医院为患者完成了1000多例微创外科手术。
CMR Surgical的崛起见证了它从一个模型——在工程师Luke Hares的工作室里用胶水和螺丝固定在一起，目前，在剑桥总部的会议室里展出——发展成为英国最有前途的独角兽之一，估值为30亿美元。
Luke Hares的原始模型/CMRSurgical
首席执行官Per VegardNerseth去年加入，之前他在工业机器人巨头ABB工作了近20年。他说:“在最初的原型机五年后，我们为病人做了第一次手术。现在，通过这种模式，我们已经帮助了全球1000名患者。”
此前，软银旗下300亿美元的愿景基金(Vision Fund 2)进行了6亿美元的融资。中国的腾讯(Tencent)和凯雷资本(Escala Capital)也在投资者之列。
最初的木制手臂已经由工程师团队开发成一套模压的、霓虹灯照明的模块单元——命名为“Versius”——作为外科医生在手术室里进行腹腔镜检查的虚拟助手。每只手臂都模仿医生的动作，医生使用改良的PlayStation控制器从3D观看控制台操纵病人皮肤下的针头、刀片和镊子。
超过700项专利涉及其操作的各个方面，特别是旋转的“手腕”——这是原始原型机的一个特点——是保持运动的关键，并通过扩展切口的大小，使其最小化。这意味着手术时间更短，并发症更少，感染风险更低，恢复更快。它还可以延长外科医生的工作寿命，他们通常在40多岁时退休，因为他们的背部和颈部的身体压力。
versus机械臂/ CMR Surgical
CMR已获得监管部门批准，可以在欧洲、澳大利亚、印度和中东的20多个国家开展业务，其中“mid double digits”的Versius已在运营，包括7家NHS信托公司。
该公司计划将业务扩展到中国、日本和美国(市场长期领导者Intuitive的所在地)，并预计今年全球外科手术机器人的销售额将达到50亿美元。
CMR Surgical
公司内部已经就潜在的IPO进行了讨论，但超额认购的D轮融资已经为加速公司的增长计划提供了足够的资金。
Nerseth表示:“未来可能会有IPO，但目前我们有着眼长远的坚定股东。”
从最初的5名工程师团队开始，CMR设定了一个目标，到2025年，将现有的600至1800名员工增加一倍以上，并安装至少1000套Versius系统。Nerseth透露:“大约50%的患者仍然接受开放式手术带来的缺陷，人工微创手术非常困难。
“我们有一个非常清晰的愿景，也很容易让市场理解:为世界各地的患者提供微创手术。在一个拥有出色产品的出色市场中，存在巨大的增长机遇。”
来源：https://www.standard.co.uk
CMR Surgical: The $3bn British robot start-up shapingthe future of hospital surgery
A medicalrobotics start-up which began life six years ago with a single prototype woodenarm has now completed more than 1000 keyhole surgeries on patients in hospitalsaround the world.CMR Surgical’sremarkable rise has seen it develop from the model — glued and bolted togetherin engineer Luke Hares’s workshop and now on display in the boardroom of itscavernous Cambridge HQ — to become one of the UK’s most promising unicorns,with a $3billion valuation.CEO Per VegardNerseth, who joined last year after almost two decades at industrial roboticsgiant ABB, said: “Five years after that initial prototype we did the firstsurgery on a patient. Now, from this model, we have helped 1000 patientsglobally.”The blockbustervaluation followed a $600million fundraiserled by Softbank’s$30billion Vision Fund 2. China’s Tencent and Escala Capital are alsoamong backers.The originalwooden arm has been developed by teams of engineers into a suite of moulded,neon-lit modular units — named the Versius — which act as a surgeon’s virtualassistants in theatre to perform laparoscopies.Each arm mimicsthe movements of the physician, who uses modified PlayStation controllers tomanipulate needles, blades and tweezers beneath the patient’s skin from a 3Dviewing console.More than 700patents cover aspects of its operation, in particular the rotating “wrist” — afeature of the original prototype — which is key to keeping movement, and byextension the size of incisions, to a minimum.That meansshorter operations with fewer complications, lower risk of infection andquicker recoveries than open surgery.It can alsoprolong the working life of surgeons, who often retire in their forties due tothe physical strain on their backs and necks.CMR hasregulatory approval to operate in more than 20 countries in Europe, Australia,India and the Middle East with “mid double digits” Versius units already inoperation, including seven in NHS trusts.It plans toexpand into China, Japan, and the US — home to longtime market leader Intuitive— and estimates global sales of surgical robots will hit $5billion this year.Discussions havebeen held internally about a potential IPO, but the over-subscribed Series Dhas provided enough cash to accelerate its growth plans.Nerseth said:“There may be an IPO in the future but right now we have solid shareholderswith a long-term view.”From itsoriginal team of five engineers, CMR has set a goal to more than double itsexisting workforce of 600 to 1,800 and install at least 1,000 Versius systemsby 2025.Nerseth said:“About 50% of all patients still have open surgery with all the disadvantagesthat entails because manual keyhole surgery is very difficult.“We have a veryclear vision which it’s really easy to get the market to understand: to bringkeyhole surgery to patients around the world. In a fantastic market with afantastic product there are massive growth opportunities."