Medical technology co. EndoQuest Robotics closes $42M Series C

A local medical device company exploring the use of robotics in surgical procedures closed a funding round that will help its regulatory compliance and commercial efforts.

Houston-based EndoQuest Robotics's $42M Series C-1 investment was led by its legacy investors, CE Ventures Ltd. and McNair Enterprises Ltd. Del Mar, California-based Puma Venture Capital LLC also joined the round as a new investor.

The round is the first that EndoQuest has raised under its current name. The company was previously named ColubrisMX and raised over $80 million in previous funding rounds, according to Crunchbase, prior to its rebranding in 2022.

EndoQuest’s robotics offerings are intended to perform operations within the human body’s luminal spaces, or the areas within the gastrointestinal tract. According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, EndoQuest has filed 12 patent applications this year for devices including patient consoles and systems for inserting medical devices into patients.

"This financing enables us to continue innovating and refining our technology, ultimately improving patient care and transforming the future of endoluminal interventions,” Kurt Azarbarzin, CEO of EndoQuest, said in a Dec. 4 news release.

In addition to its Houston headquarters in the Texas Technology Park at 9310 Kirby Drive, EndoQuest also has an office in South Korea. According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, the company was founded as ColubrisMX in 2016.

Houston medtech deal activity dips in 2023

Medical device funding and deal count has dipped in the Houston area in 2023, according to data provided to the Houston Business Journal from Pitchbook. As of Nov. 10, 2023, deal count has slipped to 15 from a decade-high of 35 in 2021, and deal value has dropped to $50 million from $260 million over that two-year period. 2023’s figures are the lowest in Houston since 2019, Pitchbook found.

These trends mirror similar dips in other areas of Houston’s life sciences ecosystem, such as pharmaceuticals and health technology. Pitchbook found that across the Bayou City’s life sector, deal count and valuation has returned to pre-pandemic levels after hitting historic highs in 2021.

Some industry leaders, such as Ferran Prat, senior vice president of research administration and industry relations at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, believe that VC activity in Houston must be driven by homegrown investors who have been attracted to the area to start their own companies. Prat said that attracting external capital is generally a tricky proposition.

“Capital is not very mobile, in the sense that investors like to have their investments close by,” Prat said in an interview. “So if somebody can invest next door, they're not going to invest 5,000 miles away.”

In 2023, Houston did manage to attract a life sciences VC firm expanding across the country. Chicago-based Portal Innovations is operating 30,000 square feet of office and lab space in the recently opened TMC3 Collaborative Building on the 37-acre Texas Medical Center Helix Park campus. Portal CEO John Flavin told the HBJ that he saw ingredients in Houston for a fast-growing life sciences ecosystem, similar to what he had experienced in Chicago.

“There’s a lot of money in each of these ecosystems like Chicago and Houston, but it’s a different type of investor aiming for different investments,” Flavin said. “What we've seen in Chicago is that there's been an evolution where now family offices, that historically have invested in things beyond biotech, are [now] interested in exposure to biotech, so they become a very active early-stage investor, co-investor with us."