Virtuoso Surgical, Inc., a Nashville-based medical device company, announced today that its $20 million stock offering has become effective after review by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Virtuoso Surgical has developed a robotic surgery system that radically improves minimally invasive endoscopic surgery. Virtuoso uses patented technology developed by the Company’s founders at Johns Hopkins University and Vanderbilt University with funding from the National Institutes of Health.
The Virtuoso system features a pair of instrument delivery arms made of concentric nitinol tools that mimic a surgeon’s hands to offer unprecedented control and dexterity to a full range of rigid endoscopic surgeries. Virtuoso’s robotic manipulators are the size of a needle, or nearly 10 times smaller than other state-of-the-art robotic instruments.
Virtuoso’s offering is made under SEC Regulation A, Tier 2, which means that any U.S. person can invest in the Company. The offering is for the sale of Class A preferred stock, which is intended to protect investors from follow-on dilution while generating potential returns comparable to historic venture capital portfolio investments.
Virtuoso Surgical operates at the intersection of robotics and minimally invasive surgery. Rigid endoscopy is the oldest, largest, and most mature segment of minimally invasive surgery, with an annual global market size of approximately $20 billion.
“Virtuoso Surgical was founded to make minimally invasive surgery more effective by providing surgeons with dexterous, accurate, and cost-effective tools for rigid endoscopes,” stated Robert J. Webster, III, PhD, Co-Founder and President. “We are not aware of any technology that accomplishes the precision and force of the Virtuoso device for operation through standard rigid endoscopes.”
Webster continued, “We believe that nearly all surgical procedures currently attempted with a rigid endoscope stand to benefit from our platform technology. We anticipate that this advanced technology will enable new procedures and surgical techniques while improving many existing procedures and techniques.”
The Virtuoso technology is built on over 10 years of innovation in academic labs. Rigid endoscopes are currently used in almost every area of surgery, including neurologic, thoracic, orthopedic, urologic, and gynecologic procedures. The Company is actively developing and testing the system for numerous endoscopic applications.
Virtuoso’s team of internationally recognized clinical and engineering experts include Dr. Webster, who developed the technology in collaboration with Duke Herrell, MD, a urological surgeon and Virtuoso’s Chief Medical Officer, and Richard Hendrick, PhD, Chief Operating Officer. Drs. Webster and Herrell, along with others, co-founded the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE). Mark Pickrell serves as Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel of Virtuoso.
About Virtuoso Surgical
Virtuoso Surgical has developed a groundbreaking robotic surgery system that radically improves minimally invasive endoscopic surgery. The Virtuoso system features a pair of instrument delivery arms made of concentric nitinol tools that mimic a surgeon’s hands to offer unprecedented control and dexterity to a full range of endoscopic applications. The system uses patented technology developed by Virtuoso’s founders at Johns Hopkins University and Vanderbilt University with funding from the National Institutes of Health. For additional information about Virtuoso, visit www.virtuososurgical.net.
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Dr. Herrell, an internationally recognized expert in medical device innovation, development of new surgical techniques, and robotic surgical technology, has served as founder and CMO of Virtuoso since helping found the company in 2016. He has taken leave from his busy clinical practice as a renowned robotic and minimally invasive urologic surgeon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Herrell will lead capital raising, continue to contribute to robotic system development, develop clinical advisory groups, and oversee plans for regulatory approval studies.
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