FundamentalVR raises $20M to further grow its VR surgical simulation platform

In Virtual Reality News

August 11, 2022 – FundamentalVR, a provider of immersive virtual reality (VR) surgical skills training and data analytics, has today announced that it has raised an additional USD $20 million to help accelerate medical skill-transfer and increase surgical proficiency through its medical simulation platform, Fundamental Surgery.

The transaction was led by EQT Life Sciences investing from the LSP Health Economics Fund 2 and joined by prior investors Downing Ventures. As part of the transactions, Drew Burdon of EQT Life Sciences will join the Board of Directors. The new investments follow a Series A round in October 2019 and bring the company’s total funding to over USD $30 million.

FundamentalVR offers a scalable medical simulation platform that combines virtual reality and haptics through data, artificial intelligence and multimodal learning. FundamentalVR’s patented HapticVR technology mimics the physical touch of surgical actions which allows users to experience the sights, sounds, and physical sensations of real-life surgery. Scalable and hardware agnostic, the platform immerses users in a controlled training environment that lowers the surgical risk to patients.

We were able to go hands-on with FundamentalVR’s HapticVR solution at this year’s AWE USA conference back in June and it was nothing short of impressive. The platform was truly immersive, and the haptic feedback was incredibly realistic and responsive – Plus, with no actual surgical experience to speak of, the experience was probably the closest we will ever get to seeing what it is like to perform surgery on someone’s leg. It was very clear to see how the company’s VR solutions provide an extremely valuable set of tools to trainee surgeons and medical institutions.

FundamentalVR’s total hip arthroplasty VR simulation.

According to FundamentalVR, its high-fidelity simulations are used in over 30 countries and help life science, pharmaceutical and med-device companies deploy medical innovations in disciplines from ophthalmology to robotics, gene therapy, and more. The company stated that this latest growth investment will enable the further development of its HapticVR technology, as well as its machine learning data insights product and geographic expansion throughout the US.

FundamentalVR’s multi-user platform enables medical institutions, hospitals, and surgical educators, to scale professionally accredited surgical training throughout their organizations. The company added that its partnerships with hospital groups, including flagship clients and investors Mayo Clinic and Sana Kliniken, will help to drive further growth.

“Our platform can conduct a walkthrough of a procedure through to a full operation, facilitating surgical skills transfer–which is why we have been enthusiastically embraced throughout the medical industry, from med-device manufacturers to pharmaceuticals” said Fundamental VR co-Founder and Chief Executive, Richard Vincent. “Our immersive environments transform surgical skills acquisition in a scalable, low-cost, multiuser way. We are excited to scale our vision of creating a medical education environment unhindered by borders.”

“With increasingly complex surgical procedures, it is important to provide medical professionals with new methods for surgical skills transfer and continued training and education while managing both the cost and time burden associated with these activities,” said Drew Burdon, Partner at EQT Life Sciences. “HapticVR, is a differentiated approach which has already been adopted by a number of high-quality customers, in a short period of time, demonstrating the value that this system can add today.”

For more information on FundamentalVR and its HapticVR platform, please visit the company’s website.

Image credit: FundamentalVR

About the author

Sam Sprigg

Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.