CMR Surgical

Reviewed active Updated Apr 6, 2026

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Location Cambridge, United Kingdom
Founded 2014
Latest Stage Series D
Total Raised $1.3B+
Website https://cmrsurgical.com
Sector
surgical-robotics medtech healthcare

Founders

Martin Frost Co-Founder (former CEO)
Luke Hares Co-Founder & CTO
Mark Slack Co-Founder
Keith Marshall Co-Founder

About

CMR Surgical is a Cambridge, UK-based surgical robotics company founded in 2014 by Martin Frost, Luke Hares, Mark Slack, and Keith Marshall 12. The company develops the Versius Surgical Robotic System, a modular robot-assisted surgery platform designed to expand access to minimally invasive surgery 1. Versius features independent modular arms intended to be more flexible and cost-effective than incumbent systems like Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci 3. As of 2025, the Versius system has been used in over 30,000 procedures across more than 30 countries, making it the second most-adopted soft tissue surgical robot globally 8. The company received FDA 510(k) clearance for its Versius Plus system and is expanding into the U.S. market 8.

Martin Frost served as CEO from founding until January 2020, when Per Vegard Nerseth took over 2. Massimiliano Colella became CEO in January 2025 after serving as interim CEO from October 2024 9. The company achieved a $3 billion valuation in its 2021 Series D round 5.

Funding History

Date Round Amount Lead Co-investors
2016-07-18 Series A $20.3M ABB Technology Ventures, LGT Global Invest, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Escala Capital 3
2018-06-07 Series B $100M Zhejiang Silk Road Fund, Escala Capital, LGT, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Watrium 4
2019-09-17 Series C $240M LGT, Escala Capital, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Watrium, Zhejiang Silk Road Fund 5
2021-06-28 Series D $600M SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Ally Bridge Group RPMI Railpen, Tencent, Chimera, LGT, Lightrock, Watrium, Cambridge Innovation Capital, PFM Health Sciences, GE Healthcare 6
2023-09-20 Series D Extension $165M SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Tencent, Ally Bridge Group, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Escala Capital, LGT, Lightrock, RPMI Railpen, Watrium 7
2025-04-04 Equity + Debt $200M+ Trinity Capital (debt) Existing investors 8

What Investors Say

“CMR Surgical is transforming surgical robotics to convert underpenetrated open & laparoscopic procedures in new international markets.” — Yanni Pipelis, SoftBank Investment Advisers, June 2021 6

“The user-friendliness and cost-effectiveness of the Versius system allows a meaningfully differentiated robotic experience that democratizes robotic surgery.” — Charles Chon, Ally Bridge Group, June 2021 6

“CMR Surgical has significant potential to make a real impact on the surgical robotics market.” — Umur Hursever, Partner at LGT Lightstone, September 2019 5

“ABB invests in CMR as the company has what looks to be the next-generation platform for minimal access surgery, a field with an enormous potential given today’s expanding needs in the health care industry.” — Girish Nadkarni, President of ABB Technology Ventures, July 2016 3

“Trinity Capital is excited to partner with CMR Surgical at this important juncture. CMR has established itself as a trailblazer in surgical robotics.” — Rob Lake, Senior Managing Director, Life Sciences, Trinity Capital, April 2025 8

What Founders Say

“I’m delighted to announce the support and endorsement of these leading international investors. The financing enables us to increase our engagement with our target market and prepare for commercialisation.” — Martin Frost, Co-Founder & CEO, July 2016 3

“CMR Surgical’s rapid growth has given us the opportunity to develop a life-changing solution which we expect to change the take up of minimal access surgery worldwide.” — Martin Frost, Co-Founder & CEO, June 2018 4

“We are pleased to welcome new US investors whose calibre and scale are reflective of the scale of CMR’s mission to transform surgery.” — Erik Langaker, Chairman, September 2019 5

“CMR is a competitive, well-established company with a transformative product providing clear clinical value.” — Massimiliano Colella, CEO, April 2025 8

Sources

  1. CMR Surgical, “About Us,” accessed April 2026. https://us.cmrsurgical.com/about↩↩

  2. Cambridge Independent, “Martin Frost: Why I’m standing down as CEO of CMR Surgical,” accessed April 2026. https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/business/martin-frost-why-i-m-standing-down-as-ceo-of-cmr-surgical-and-per-vegard-nerseth-is-the-right-man-to-succeed-me-9094071/↩↩

  3. Cambridge Network, “CMR Surgical secures $20.3m in Series A Financing,” July 2016, accessed April 2026. https://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/cmr-surgical-secures-203m-series-financing↩↩↩↩

  4. Cambridge Independent, “CMR Surgical raises record £100million,” June 2018, accessed April 2026. https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/business/cmr-surgical-raises-record-100million-and-hopes-to-have-its-robots-in-hospitals-by-end-of-2018-9050861/↩↩

  5. GlobeNewsWire, “CMR Surgical raises £195 million ($240 million) in Series C financing,” September 17, 2019, accessed April 2026. https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2019/09/17/1916387/0/en/CMR-Surgical-raises-195-million-240-million-in-Series-C-financing.html↩↩↩↩

  6. GlobeNewsWire, “CMR Surgical raises $600 million in Series D financing,” June 28, 2021, accessed April 2026. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/06/28/2253559/0/en/CMR-Surgical-raises-600-million-in-Series-D-financing.html↩↩↩

  7. Sifted, “CMR Surgical raises $165m from existing investors SoftBank and Tencent,” September 2023, accessed April 2026. https://sifted.eu/articles/cmr-surgical-raise-2023↩

  8. CMR Surgical, “CMR Surgical secures more than $200M to accelerate growth,” April 4, 2025, accessed April 2026. https://us.cmrsurgical.com/news/cmr-surgical-secures-200m-usd-in-funding↩↩↩↩↩

  9. CMR Surgical, “Massimiliano Colella Appointed CEO,” accessed April 2026. https://us.cmrsurgical.com/news/massimiliano-colella-appointed-ceo↩