French medtech company Robocath gets €40 million and Asian expansion for robotic-assisted platform

Robocath, a French developer of robotic systems that treat cardiovascular diseases, has secured €40 million in Series C funding and a strategic entry into the Asian medical device market. The round was led by China’s MicroPort Scientific Corporation, with participation from institutional investors such as Zhejiang Silk Road Fund, Luxembourg CLIIF, CS Group and Anaxago, as well as existing investors. Founded in Rouen in 2009, the medtech company designs and commercialises robotic solutions, including its first robotic-assisted platform, R-One. The investment will fuel the sales and marketing efforts for R-One, especially as the product enters the Asian market with the help of MicroPort. With over 7,000 global employees, MicroPort has been working in medical device manufacturing and commercialisation since 1998is a leader in its domestic Chinese market in the cardiovascular field. As part of the funding deal, the two businesses have signed a strategic agreement to set up a China-based joint-venture company. Both companies will also carry out joint research and development activities, such as exploring possibilities for long-distance, remote control technologies over 5G and developing AI algorithms to be used with robotic-assisted platforms. “We believe that the future growth of medical device therapies will be driven by innovative robotics platform technologies to facilitate procedures and open up next generation capabilities such as remote and AI,” said Dr. Alex He, general manager of Medbot, MicroPort’s robotics subsidiary. Aside from the robotics platform and expansion into Asia, the Series C funding will also fuel the French company’s second-generation robot, in an effort to address more PCI procedures and explore peripheral and neurovascular applications.