Cloud-based OR software dev Explorer Surgical raises $5m

Healthcare software dev Explorer Surgical said late last week that it closed a $5 million round of financing to support its intraoperative surgical and interventional procedure workflow management and analytics platform.

The round was led by Aphelion Capital, who also led a Series A financing round, and joined by all major existing and new investors, the Chicago-based company said.

“Since our initial investment, we have uncovered a true need for the Explorer platform not only in hospitals, but within medical device companies as well. With so much budget allocated towards physician education, R&D and sales teams, it is critical for manufacturers to understand how their products are used in each of those settings. Explorer supports all three of these functions, which speaks to the flexibility of their software, and we are excited to further develop our relationship with them,” Aphelion Capital managing partner Ned Scheetz said in a press release.

“Device companies invest heavily in training physicians and other health care professionals on the use of their products.  In fact, to ensure safe and effective use of complicated technology, the FDA will frequently mandate training protocols. The Explorer technology, which can be used both to guide and to document procedures, is an ideal tool for improving the effectiveness of the training these companies provide,” Affinity Capital Management prez Kris Johnson, who recently joined the company’s board of directors, said in a prepared statement.

Explorer Surgical uses a software-as-a-service business model to offer a cloud-based platform that allows user to manage, track and analyze intra-operative activity and information for the operating room and interventional suites.

“We’ve proven value in hospitals through an NSF SBIR study, in addition to an ongoing second research study at Indiana University. Now, in addition to further commercializing within hospitals, we are growing our use cases among medical device customers. We are fortunate to be supported by a strong, experienced investor base with confidence in our vision,” CEO and co-founder Jennifer Fried said in a prepared release.