Three years after launching with a first fund of $100 million, Intuitive Surgical’s venture capital arm has gone even bigger with its second funding pool.
The aptly named Fund II has closed with $150 million in new VC dollars to dole out, Intuitive Ventures said in a Monday announcement.
Like its predecessor, the second fund has been earmarked to help back startups that are building new technologies dedicated to improving minimally invasive approaches to healthcare, spanning devices, diagnostics, software and therapeutics. Specifically, according to the announcement, Fund II investments will focus on companies that are aiming to improve access to care, building new precision diagnostics and other interventional technologies and developing secure digital ecosystems around using health data to improve care.
Alongside the launch of its second multimillion-dollar fund, Intuitive Ventures has also switched up its leadership. Previously, Oliver Keown, M.D., served as managing partner and head of the startup-funding entity, but he’s now stepped down from the helm to become founder and CEO of a startup himself.
According to Keown’s LinkedIn page, as of last month, he’s leading Cleo Surgical, which he describes as “a stealth startup working to reinvent surgical care.” In the meantime, he’ll continue to work with Intuitive Ventures as a venture partner.
Taking his place at the top of Intuitive’s VC arm is Murielle Thinard McLane, who initially came aboard at the start of this year as a director following a two-decade career in leadership roles across the life sciences industry, including stints at Genentech, Novartis, McKesson, GE Ventures and more.
“It’s an honor to lead Intuitive Ventures in this next stage of growth, and continue to develop our portfolio of transformative companies and high-quality investment partners,” Thinard McLane said in the release. “We take great pride in serving as value-add investors, providing unique strategic perspectives, and aligning our success with the success of our portfolio companies and fellow investors.”
She added, “With Fund II, Intuitive Ventures will further scale its impactful approach and help accelerate the creation of innovative minimally invasive care solutions.”
Intuitive, maker of the Da Vinci robotic surgery system, unveiled its VC branch in the fall of 2020. Since then, the $100 million first fund has lent its support to more than 10 startups.
Among Intuitive Ventures’ portfolio companies is Optellum, which has developed a software platform that uses artificial intelligence algorithms to spot signs of lung lesions in CT scans and estimate the likelihood that the suspicious nodules are cancerous. The Oxford-based startup closed a $14 million series A round last year with support from the Intuitive fund.
Around the same time, it joined in on a series B funding for MedCrypt and its medical device cybersecurity technology—a round that eventually stretched past $25 million—and, this summer, it contributed to the $54 million series D round for Flywheel’s medical image analysis software.