SoftBank backs Proximie in $80m round for AR surgery
Summary
5bn people currently lack access to safe surgery, she says, and over 18m people die every year from lack of access to surgery.Alongside helping surgeons collaborate, Proximie also records surgery to create a digital footprint of operations, a database of knowledge on surgery shared across the world.Recent updates to the tech include integrations with wearables and a mobile app version.The round was led by Advent Life Sciences, a British-American VC focused on life sciences.New investors SoftBank, British Patient Capital, Mubadala, the Minderoo Foundation and Emerson Collective, an American investment firm led by Steve Jobs wife Laurene Powell Jobs, also participated in the round.Its a rare sight to see SoftBank back a European startup in 2022. The Proximie round is only the third round in 2022, suggesting this years total will come in significantly smaller than last year after some dizzying losses on recent bets.Existing Proximie investors F-Prime Capital, Eight Roads, Questa Capital, Global Ventures and Maverick Ventures also participated in the latest round.Proximie is tapping into a large market, with hospitals constantly working to improve their performance in surgeries. Theres also SentiAR, which has raised $8.4m, and which beams holographic organs above a patient in surgery to guide the operating team.There are also tools to train surgeons using virtual reality including British companies FundamentalVR and Osso VR.Proximie has already secured several high-value contracts including one with Vodafone (which runs a health solutions arm) and Teladoc, an American telemedicine company valued at $23bn. Its also signed deals with several medical device providers.The new fundraising will be used to expand Proximies platform.Proceeds will be used to accelerate the development of key products and services, build out our marketplace ecosystem and scale our Operating System of the OR a centralised platform delivering connected surgical care, explains Hachach-Haram.Our mission is simple: its to be in every operating room in the world. By 2043, medical workforce shortages will be over 80k.Proximie is now by far the best-funded player in the sector, and has significant reach: the company says its got access to 90% of operating rooms and diagnostic suites across the UK, US and EU.Freya Pratty is a reporter at Sifted.