US-headquartered surgical robotics technology provider Intuitive launched a $100m corporate venturing fund yesterday that will invest in developers of minimally invasive medical technology.
Intuitive Ventures will back developers of digital healthcare tools, medical devices, therapeutics and precision diagnostics technology. It is being run by president Julian Nikolchev, who joined Intuitive in 2019 as senior vice-president of corporate development and strategy.
The vehicle was co-founded by director Oliver Keown, who was hired by the company in August 2019, after three years as a senior associate at corporate venturing unit GE Ventures focusing on healthcare investments.
Keown said: “We are value-add investors who leverage access to Intuitive’s unique industry expertise and customer connections. Our nimble structure and alignment with the startups we will back empower us to invest early and support our portfolio companies as they pioneer markets.”
Intuitive Ventures’ first disclosed investment involves it co-leading a $10m series A round for KēlaHealth, the US-based operator of a digital surgical data platform.
Life sciences venture firm Santé Ventures co-led the round, which was announced in tandem with a $2.9m seed round and which includes grant funding from the US National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.
KēlaHealth disclosed the funding having previously taken part in Cedars-Sinai Techstars Accelerator, the accelerator backed by healthcare provider Cedars-Sinai, in addition to accelerators Healthbox Studio and Plug and Play.
