Navigantis raised $12 million to develop a surgical robotics platform for neurovascular procedures.
The Miami company's series A financing was led by Puma Venture Capital with participation from Cormorant Asset Management and Mirae Asset Capital. The capital will be used to fund to the ongoing development of its VASCO robot and bring the device into human clinical trials.
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Neurovascular diseases like stroke, aneurysms and arteriovenous malformation are a leading cause of death around the world. In the U.S. alone, stroke was the cause of 1 in 6 deaths from cardiovascular disease in 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. A stroke affects someone in the U.S. about every 40 seconds and can result in disability.
Many people still do not have timely access to acute stroke treatments, Navigantis reports. CEO Mor Dayan said the investors "share our vision for revolutionizing neurovascular care with robotics."
Mechanical thrombectomy, a procedure for removing blood clots from the brain after an ischemic stroke, is a now the standard of care. But time is of the essence when it comes to treatment: Experts report the surgery must be completed within eight hours of symptom onset for the best results.
However, there are not always enough health care providers to perform those procedures, especially outside of urban areas. That's where the surgical robot could come in.
The company did not provide many details about the robotics platform in a news release or on its website. A representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Amit Hazan, managing partner at Puma Venture Capital, joined Navigantis' board of directors. In a statement, he said robotic applications the VASCO could open the door to other innovations.
That could include "expanded access to care via telesurgery, and going beyond fixing blood vessels that are weakened or blocked to use the vascular route for other applications such as drug delivery and brain implants," he said.
Navigantis isn't the only local company building robots for medical procedures. South Florida is home to a growing surgical robotics sector that includes Neocis, the maker of a robot for dental implants that recently secured $20 million from Mirae Asset Financial Group and NVentures, Nvidia's venture capital arm.
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