Med·Invest | Medical Device Investment Highlights (Nov 2–15, 2024)

1. Focusight Completes Pre-A Round Financing

Focusight (Suzhou Focusight Medical Technology Co., Ltd.) has conducted the world’s first prospective, randomized controlled clinical trial on the "Effectiveness and Safety of an AR Technology-Based Amblyopia Treatment Solution for All Age Groups" in China. The trial was led by the Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat Hospital of Fudan University and carried out in collaboration with multiple centers. It also marks the world’s first registration of an amblyopia treatment method proven superior to the current gold standard. This breakthrough successfully shatters the traditional belief that "amblyopia in older age is untreatable," expanding the clinical treatment age range for amblyopia from 12 years old to 55 years old.

Focusight, established in 2020, is a globally leading ophthalmic diagnosis and treatment platform driven by brain science mechanism research. The company focuses on industry-academia-research collaboration to break through the limitations of traditional intervention methods—such as age, effectiveness, location, and compliance—by leveraging "fundamental brain science + eye disease mechanism research + wearable intelligent products," thereby improving intervention outcomes and accessibility for patients with eye diseases. Currently, the company's products meet the needs of patients with amblyopia, myopia, dry eye, and end-stage eye conditions, and have formed multiple proprietary intellectual properties across various fields of ophthalmic treatment.

On October 25, 2024, Focusight reached an important milestone — its treatment product designed for children with amblyopia received the Class II Medical Device Product Registration Certificate (Zhejiang Medical Device Approval No. 20242211922) issued by the Zhejiang Provincial Drug Administration.

At the same time, Focusight is also expanding its innovative product portfolio. Relying on the world's leading brain cognition-driven ophthalmic diagnosis and treatment solutions, the company continues to develop wearable device-based, clinically compliant, personalized, and highly adherent therapeutic products. While strengthening its layout in traditional areas of strength, Focusight enriches its innovative product pipeline and builds an eye disease treatment ecosystem, committed to providing patients with comprehensive, full-lifecycle ophthalmic health management solutions.

2. Focusight Completes Tens of Millions of Yuan in Series A Financing

Xuzhi Shi Technology is a company in China that has taken the lead in applying digital technology to the treatment of various brain diseases. It has been recognized as a specialized, refined, and innovative enterprise, as well as a high-tech company. The company has gathered top talents from multiple cutting-edge fields such as brain science, artificial intelligence, medicine, bioengineering, and virtual reality both domestically and internationally. This diversified team not only possesses profound academic knowledge but also has rich practical experience and innovative thinking, and is committed to exploring the boundaries between virtuality and reality while promoting the deep integration of technology and humanities. Notably, the proportion of returned overseas talents in the company is as high as 30%, which not only highlights Xuzhi Shi's high emphasis on international perspectives and cross-cultural exchanges but also means that the team can fully absorb the most advanced scientific research achievements and technological trends worldwide, injecting continuous innovation vitality into the company’s R&D projects.

Starting from the treatment needs of specialized departments, Focusight has developed the industry's first VR treatment product for cognitive dysfunction and obtained the first medical device registration certificate in this field in China.

After eight years of deep cultivation, the company has now built a product system covering multiple fields such as psychiatry, neurology, pediatrics, rehabilitation, and psychology. The products have been implemented in hundreds of hospitals across more than twenty provinces in China, with over a million patients using them. In addition, the company has also obtained EU and Southeast Asia certifications, and its products are exported to overseas markets.

3. Robomedical Receives A+ Round Financing from Hangzhou Guoshun Jianheng

Since its establishment in 2015, Robobio Medical has been focusing on innovation in the field of medical technology, particularly excelling in the development of robotic systems for endoscopic gastrointestinal surgeries. It is reported that Robobio Medical’s endoscopic gastrointestinal surgery robot, EndoFaster, has successfully completed human registration clinical trials in August 2023 at six leading clinical centers across China, including Qilu Hospital of Shandong University and Changhai Hospital in Shanghai. By November 2023, it had entered the National Innovative Medical Device Fast-Track Approval Process, with an anticipated market approval by the end of 2024.

Natural Orifice Surgical Robots Are Currently the Key and Difficult Point in Surgical Robot Development. The ROBO Medical EndoFaster Digestive Endoscopy Surgical Robot System is one of the world’s leading natural orifice surgical robots, offering advantages such as high control precision, high flexibility, and a low complication rate. The system attaches a 2.5mm-diameter flexible robotic arm to the outer side of a digestive endoscope, providing doctors with a "third hand" in confined cavity spaces.

With the introduction of EndoFaster into clinical practice, gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures have officially entered the era of surgical robotics. Multiple experts in the field stated that the EndoFaster gastrointestinal endoscopic surgery robotic system not only has broad clinical application prospects in the Chinese market but also holds potential for future expansion into international markets. With the commercial application of EndoFaster and the launch of new types of consumables based on its platform, it is believed that robotic surgical technology can truly universalize and standardize gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures, laying a solid foundation for expanding the indications of these procedures from the mucosal layer to the serosal layer.

At the same time, the second-generation dual-channel natural orifice surgical robot EndoDreams system, a newly developed product by Robomedical, has recently completed multiple live animal experiments and is planned to enter type inspection in the fourth quarter of 2024. In the future, this system will not only cover corresponding procedures for gastrointestinal surgeries but also expand its applications to many fields such as urology and gynecology.

4. Focusight Completes Nearly 100 Million Yuan in Series A Financing

Fully Independent and Self-Innovative Label-Free Bioimaging Technology Company — Femtosecond Laser Research Center (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Femtosecond Technology) announces the completion of nearly 100 million yuan in Series A financing. This round of financing was jointly led by Oriza Origination and Taiyi Fund, with participation from Nuoyou Capital, Deshi Capital, and Guoju Venture Capital. Existing shareholder Yuan Yi Capital also increased its investment.

Femtosecond Technology is a high-tech and "specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative" enterprise focusing on the clinical diagnosis and treatment and industrial application of femtosecond laser technology in biomedicine. The company's core technology, "Femtosecond Label-free Imaging (FLI)," is a platform-level technology that enables efficient and non-destructive transformation of real-world biological tissues or cells into digital image data without slicing, staining, or any labeling. Both the depth of data mining and the efficiency of information acquisition are world-leading. The highly standardized image data from FLI technology, combined with artificial intelligence deep neural networks, can efficiently train AI algorithms with excellent generalizability.

The FLI series products can be applied in cancer mechanism research, pharmacological research, drug screening, embryo selection, in vivo imaging, organoid companion diagnostics, precise cancer diagnosis, efficacy evaluation, efficacy prediction, and prognosis prediction, demonstrating broad application prospects and immense market potential.