Invest Nebraska doles out $500k to robotic surgical device company

Invest Nebraska Corporation, a state-funded venture capital organization, recently announced it participated in a bridge financing round of Lincoln, Neb.-based Virtual Incision. Though the terms of the round were undisclosed, Invest Nebraska analyst Adam Hunke told Silicon Prairie News the organization contributed $500,000 (investments made by Invest Nebraska must be matched or exceeded by another…

Invest Nebraska Corporation, a state-funded venture capital organization, recently announced it participated in a bridge financing round of Lincoln, Neb.-based Virtual Incision. Though the terms of the round were undisclosed, Invest Nebraska analyst Adam Hunke told Silicon Prairie News the organization contributed $500,000 (investments made by Invest Nebraska must be matched or exceeded by another capital source).

The round also featured Prairie Gold Venture Partners and Bluestem Capital, the two Sioux Falls, S.D.-based investment firms behind Virtual Incision’s $2 million Series A round in late 2010.

Virtual Incision will use the new funding to accelerate the development of its current prototype and as working capital, according to an Invest Nebraska press release. Hunke said the company, which was founded in 2006 by two University of Nebraska professors, hopes to increase staff.

“Our device is poised to dramatically improve several procedures by enabling a minimally invasive technique for several procedures that are currently performed with an open incision,” co-founder and CTO Shane Farritor (above) said in the press release. “No one else is performing surgery from within the body.”

Virtual Incision is developing a patented robotic surgical device that enters a patient’s body using a single incision. The technology’s initial application, which Hunke said is “at least a year away,” will be colon resection procedures. When complete, the Virtual Incision platform, according to the press release, will be “much less expensive” than existing robotic alternatives.

“The team at Virtual Incision has done an impressive job developing the technology, and we are proud to help advance this promising company,” Invest Nebraska CEO Mark Crawford (right) said in the release.

In August, Invest Nebraska invested $500,000 in Omaha-based medical technology company ScanMed. The Lincoln, Neb.-based organization has around $2.5 million to distribute by the end of this year.

For more on Invest Nebraska, see our post: “With CEO and state funds in place, Invest Nebraska financing startups“.

For more on Virtual Incision, see this University of Nebraska-Lincoln promotional piece: “Ideas to innovation – Engineer finds tracks to development with practical advice“.


Credits: Shane Farritor photo from unl.edu. Mark Crawford photo courtesy of Invest Nebraska.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

Get the latest news and events from Nebraska’s entrepreneurship and innovation community delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday.