Technion’s robotic surgery business Mazor Robotics has been snapped up by medical device developer Medtronic, which had already invested $72m in the company.

Mazor Robotics, an Israel-based robotic surgical device maker based on research at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology , has been acquired by medical device developer Medtronic for $1.6bn, Globes reported today.
The price sets a record for acquisitions in the Israeli medical sector, surpassing the $1.1bn paid by drug developer Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma for Ben-Gurion University of the Negev-founded Parkinson’s therapy developer Neuroderm in 2017.
Founded in 2001, Mazor Robotics has created a robotic arm called Mazor X that helps surgeons guide spinal procedures along the correct trajectory with support from features such as advanced imaging scans and a camera for checking the arm’s position.
Medtronic, which has had exclusive distribution rights for Mazor X since 2016, will now integrate Mazor’s entire product portfolio, which also includes the Renaissance guidance system for spinal and neurological interventions.
Mazor’s underlying technology resulted from research led by Moshe Shoham, a professor in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
The spinout was valued at approximately $15.6m following its 2007 IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, before a subsequent IPO on Nasdaq in 2013 which raised $46.9m.
Medtronic had supplied Mazor with $72m across three tranches of post-IPO funding as of August 2017, according to Globes.
The spinout also closed a $6.3m public placement of private equity (PIPE) round led by Phoenix Holdings Company in 2011 and reportedly raised at least $7.5m in PIPE funding from Oracle Investment Managements the following year.
Prior to floatation, Mazor Robotics closed a $10m round in 2005 led by Israel Healthcare Ventures that featured Johnson & Johnson Development Corp, the corporate venturing arm of drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson.
Alice Ventures, Dor Ventures and ProSeed Venture Capital Fund also backed the 2005 round.