Virtual Incision Corporation raises $20 million for its abdominal surgery robot

Over the past several years, surgical has become one of the hottest - and best funded -categories in robotics. That's thanks, in no small part, to the massive success of companies like Intuitive. Virtual Incision Corporation has also had a pretty solid fundraising streak since its 2006 founding.

Today the Lincoln, Nebraska startup announced its latest funding round. The $20 million Series B+ brings its total funding up to $51 million. This time out, things were lead by Bluestem Capital, with participation from PrairieGold Venture Partners and Genesis Innovation Group.

VIC's primary product is the MIRA ("miniaturized in vivo robotic assistant"), a two-pound robot designed for minimally invasive abdominal surgery. Among is biggest value propositions is the relative portability of the product, versus many existing surgery robots, which are downright massive.

"We designed the MIRA Surgical Robotic Platform with the fundamental understanding that minimally invasive procedures offer tremendous benefits to patients," President and CEO John Murphy said in a release. "We believe our portable and affordable abdominal robot has the potential to bring these benefits to many more patients. The planned IDE clinical study of MIRA is the critical next step for the company."

The round will to helping prep the product for an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) with the FDA. VIC will also use it to help get the device ready for commercialization.