The Chicago-based surgical support platform ExplORer Surgical announced today it has closed a funding round worth $2.5 million. The round was led by Aphelion Capital and had support from the company’s previous backers, in addition to new investors like Sofia Fund.

With the newly raised capital and the funds from its $5 million round from 2019, ExplORer has raised $11 million to date.

WHAT THEY DO

The ExplORer platform gives surgical teams a “digital playbook” to guide them through operations. It provides a step-by-step, role-specific procedural workflow designed to increase surgeon preparedness and better patient outcomes.

The platform keeps track of what goes on during the surgery and collects data to help surgeons improve their techniques and to guide future operations.

In addition, the company’s platform offers services for medical device makers that support remote collaboration, collection and management of clinical evaluation data, and other features to support sales teams.

WHAT IT’S FOR

ExplORer CEO and cofounder Jennifer Fried said the company is planning an additional funding round later this year following its six times year-over-year revenue growth in 2020.

The funds from this round will be used to add new technological capabilities to its platform and to hire new team members, Fried said.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Level Ex also develops software used to remotely train surgeons. Its product differs from ExplORer in that it uses surgical simulations to train instead of real-life procedures.

The use of virtual and augmented reality (AR) tools in the operating room is another way developers are using tech to support surgeons.

Augmedics, which develops AR surgical tools, raised $17 million for its system last year. Its flagship product, xvision Spine system, gives surgeons a 3D image of the spinal anatomy of a patient directly in their line of sight during surgery, which allows surgeons to look at the patient instead of a remote screen.

London-based FundamentalVR has an educational platform for surgeons where they can download simulations to their standalone VR headset for practice.

ON THE RECORD

“After experiencing six times year-over-year revenue growth in 2020 vs. 2019 and a record commercial quarter in Q1 2021, we decided to raise a small tranche of capital now to support the company's growth,” Fried said in a statement.

 “Our initial target oversubscribed immediately and we decided to increase the total allocation to include new investors, including Sofia Fund. We are committed to this momentum and plan to use the proceeds to grow the technology, marketing, and customer success teams, along with closing an additional funding round later this year.”