Inovus Medical, a medtech scale-up specialising in simulation training technology for surgeons, has extended its total funding raised to £15 million. Most recently, Inovus Medical closed a £7m round from NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance, which is managed by PXN Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II).
Alongside the NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance investment, Inovus Medical has raised follow-on funding from the first Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund through Mercia, which has backed Inovus Medical since 2018, and new investment from Texas-based medtech investor Unorthodox Ventures. The round was also anchored by a £1 million investment from the Liverpool City Region Life Science Innovation Zone as part of the £150 million investment in the sector across the Liverpool City Region.
Inovus Medical partners with organisations including the NHS, the Royal College of Surgeons England and the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists to deliver standardised surgical training to residents and surgeons in the United Kingdom and North America. Inovus Medical provides surgeons with lifelike models of human anatomy made from advanced hydrogel materials, with simulators powered by its software platform, TOTUM, which allows surgeons to track their training and receive feedback from mentors online.
Co-founded in 2012 by University of Manchester graduate Dr Elliot Street, CEO, and CTO Jordan Van Flute, the company is working to replace operating room or bedside demonstrations, which reportedly puts patients at greater risk. Funding will be used to expand commercial presence in the USA general surgery surgical skills market, building on deployments across nearly 300 residency programmes for OBGYN surgical skills training. Funding will also support the launch of new technologies focused on flexible endoscopy, robotic surgery and advanced tissues that replace the need for training on pigs and cadavers, and the introduction of the existing and expanded portfolio to new international territories with a focus on Middle Eastern and Asian markets.
We are at an exciting inflexion point for the business and having invested heavily in our operational and technology infrastructure over the last 24 months, we are now poised to drive commercial growth across our key territories and surgical specialities with this new investment. We are proud to welcome our new investors, PXN and Unorthodox Ventures, and are pleased to see the strong signalling from our existing investors Mercia and Hayfin, who continue to support the business and its mission to make surgery safer through better training.
The North West has a reputation for producing innovative medtech businesses that perform strongly on the global stage and Inovus is no different. What Elliot and the team have built has the power to transform outcomes for patients around the world by making surgery safer through more modern and intuitive training. We’re pleased to be backing the business with NPIF II funding as it enters this next exciting chapter.
Having originally secured investment from the first Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, Inovus is a great example of how NPIF II continues to support ambitious businesses as they scale, providing access to the finance they need at every stage of their growth journey. Companies like Inovus are helping to drive economic growth across the UK, aligning with the Government’s Industrial Strategy and reinforcing the North’s position as a leading hub for life sciences innovation.
