Domestic flexible surgical robots boast formidable competitiveness; Sightways Robotics secures another round of financing.|Domestic flexible surgical robots boast formidable competitiveness; Sightways Robotics secures another round of financing._Business & Startups_News

On July 23, 2026, Suzhou Sightways Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as Sightways Robotics) officially announced the completion of its Series A+ financing round, led by Chuanggu Capital. Coincidentally, Israel-based Momentis Surgical, another developer focusing on flexible surgical robots, disclosed that the multi-port configuration of its Anovo® surgical robot has obtained US FDA 510(k) clearance. This makes it the world’s first single-platform surgical robot compatible with three surgical access approaches: natural orifice, single-port and multi-port.

These two landmark industry milestones falling on the same day perfectly mirror divergent development trajectories in the global surgical robotics track. Sightways Robotics represents China’s catch-up path built around specialty-specific dedicated flexible robots, while Anovo stands for a disruptive, all-in-one platform-driven transformation model.

Founded on May 12, 2022, Suzhou Sightways Medical Technology Co., Ltd. is a technology enterprise engaged in the R&D, production and sales of medical devices, with parallel layouts in medical research & experimental development, information technology consulting and other related services. Positioned as a fully vertically integrated domestic firm covering the entire industrial chain of natural orifice flexible surgical robots (spanning R&D, manufacturing and commercialization), the company has secured 17 core patents since its inception and rapidly emerged as a standout player amid the fiercely competitive medical device sector in just four years.

Since its founding in 2022, Sightways Robotics has completed four key financing milestones:

The company was incorporated on May 12, 2022 with funding from Proxima Ventures. It closed its Series A round led by Yuanhe Holdings on April 1, 2024, secured Series A+ investment from Suzhou Angel Fund of Funds and Lingjun Venture Capital on December 3, 2024, and secured another new financing round led by Chuanggu Capital on July 23, 2026.

As an institutional investor, Chuanggu Capital has voiced strong recognition of Sightways Robotics’ technical prowess and growth prospects. The new proceeds will further boost the company’s R&D spending and market expansion in medical devices, enabling leapfrog advancement across technological breakthroughs, production capacity rollout and clinical promotion. Both parties also aim to forge deeper, long-term collaboration across the healthcare sector going forward.

Contrary to the "large, all-purpose" strategy adopted by traditional large-scale surgical robot manufacturers, Sightways Robotics pursues a multi-product line strategy focused on high-growth niche tracks. It anchors its layout in four minimally invasive intervention segments: gastroenterology, gynecology, neurosurgery and general surgery, building a comprehensive product portfolio ranging from handheld surgical devices to specialty-specific robotic systems.

Among its offerings, the ArtiN™ multi-degree-of-freedom handheld flexible manipulator represents the company’s most commercially mature product, designed for routine laparoscopic procedures including general surgery, hernia repair and intestinal anastomosis. The instrument tip delivers unlimited 360° rotation and tracks surgeons’ hand movements with zero latency. Equipped with a genuine force feedback system, it drastically enhances operational precision. The product secured US FDA market clearance back in October 2024, granting it critical access to high-end medical markets worldwide.

The EndoNimble™ flexible dual-arm digestive endoscopic surgical robot serves as Sightways Robotics’ flagship product, and it is also China’s first dual-arm gastrointestinal endoscopic robot to enter human clinical investigations. In March 2026, the system officially launched human clinical trials at Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital, exploring minimally invasive therapeutic regimens for early gastrointestinal tumors and precancerous lesions. During its inaugural clinical procedure, en bloc resection of a 2×3 cm lesion was completed in merely 18 minutes, delivering clinical performance far exceeding industry expectations.The system enables a single surgeon to independently perform complete procedures via master-slave teleoperation. Novice operators can achieve proficient manipulation after approximately 20 training sessions, drastically lowering the learning curve for clinicians.

Beyond that, Sightways Robotics has also developed two specialty flexible robotic systems. Its flexible gynecological surgical robot supports two minimally invasive access routes: transvaginal and transumbilical approaches. Equipped with three 7-degree-of-freedom flexible instrument arms, each arm can achieve 180° articulation, fundamentally eliminating the "chopstick effect" that plagues multi-instrument traditional laparoscopic operations.The neurosurgical flexible surgical robot boasts an operating precision of up to 0.05 mm, enabling accurate minimally invasive resection of deep brain tumors and intracranial hematomas, addressing complex surgical areas inaccessible to rigid conventional instruments.To build a long-term and stable commercial closed loop, the company has simultaneously developed high-value single-use consumables including flexible cutters, dissecting forceps and traction clamps, establishing a sustainable profit model centered on "robotic systems + supporting consumables".

At the heart of Sightways Robotics’ rapid market breakthrough lies its fully self-controllable full-stack technology platform. All core technologies of the company are independently developed in-house with no reliance on overseas core components. Four original technical modules form a robust technological moat:Multi-segment coupled 7-degree-of-freedom flexible manipulator technology

Adopting an industry-original segmented flexible architecture, each single arm is fitted with seven independently driven joints. This fundamentally addresses longstanding industry pain points of conventional rigid instruments, namely limited bending range and mutual operational interference between instruments.Independently developed decoupled real-time control algorithm for manipulators

Serving as the underlying motion control software, it delivers millisecond-level response to all master manipulator operation commands.

Real-time force feedback haptic sensing technologyMiniature pressure sensing modules are integrated at instrument tips, enabling surgeons to receive authentic tactile feedback during procedures.Instrument channel position detection technology，It precisely identifies the deflection status of instrument channels, further boosting operational safety during complex surgeries.

In terms of product design philosophy, Sightways Robotics has forged a differentiated development path distinct from traditional large-scale overseas surgical robots such as the da Vinci system, focusing on a domestic development route featuring flexibility, miniaturization and cost efficiency.Through platform reuse of flexible instrument technologies and modular manufacturing processes, the company has substantially cut production costs and greatly improved the accessibility of domestic flexible surgical robots.

Meanwhile, all product designs are clinically pain-point driven. For instance, the EndoNimble system adopts coordinated dual flexible manipulators to resolve persistent industry challenges associated with conventional single-channel endoscopes, including unstable mucosal traction and inadequate surgical field exposure. The device reserves a 2.8 mm instrument channel compatible with a full range of standard ESD instruments. Surgeons can maintain their established operative workflows, significantly lowering barriers to clinical adoption.

The recent FDA clearance of Anovo has triggered disruptive shifts across the global surgical robotics sector. Traditional surgical robots, epitomized by the da Vinci system, employ rigid straight-shaft instruments that require extensive swinging of external robotic arms, giving rise to three long-standing industry pain points:The complete system occupies over 12 square meters of floor space, with a multi-arm interference rate as high as 17%;Around 22% blind zones remain when operating in confined anatomical spaces;Three separate hardware sets are required to support multi-port, single-port and natural orifice procedures. Hospitals face procurement costs exceeding 50 million RMB, while annual maintenance fees account for 12% to 15% of the original equipment value.

Equipped with built-in articulated bionic instruments, Anovo shifts the motion fulcrum from an external point 1.5 meters away to merely 3–5 cm inside the patient’s body, delivering all-round performance breakthroughs: the distal tip achieves full 360° articulation with zero blind angles, boosting dexterity by 210% while cutting operational blind zones to less than 3%. The entire system occupies only 4.2 square meters of floor space and can be fully deployed within 45 minutes; multi-arm interference rate drops below 0.2%, slashing surgical duration by 18%. Its procurement cost stands at roughly 60% of that of traditional multi-port robotic platforms, shortening hospitals’ payback period drastically from 6.8 years to 2.9 years.2025 European multicenter clinical data indicates that a single Anovo unit lifted the average monthly general surgery case volume from 17 to 46, representing a 270% surge in procedural throughput. Gynecologic surgeons require only 23 cases to master all three surgical access approaches, far fewer than the 62 training procedures demanded by the dual-platform da Vinci system.

Looking across the global natural orifice surgical robotics track, multiple products have obtained FDA clearance or CE marking to date. Intuitive Surgical’s Ion System and Johnson & Johnson’s Monarch Platform are both bronchoscopic robotic systems. Medrobotics’ Flex™ Robotic System secured CE marking in 2014 and FDA clearance in 2015, and is indicated for anal, rectal and remote colon procedures. Momentis Surgical’s Anovo, by contrast, focuses primarily on transvaginal robotic surgery.

In the field of flexible gastrointestinal endoscopic surgical robots, Sightways Robotics’ core focus, the company faces fierce competition from several powerful international players. The Endoluminal Surgical (ELS) System developed by U.S.-based EndoQuest Robotics is the world’s first flexible intraluminal robotic platform, capable of simultaneously manipulating two 6 mm surgical instruments and one 3.7 mm flexible endoscope. After closing a USD 42 million Series C-1 financing round in 2023, the firm partnered with NVIDIA to integrate the IGX Thor platform into its next-generation robotic system.Singapore-based EndoMaster has created the EASE system, which enables resection of gastrointestinal tumors without surgical incisions, integrated with an on-board endoscopic imaging module and three working channels.Domestically, Sightways Robotics also competes head-to-head with local manufacturers including Intilume Medical, Robotic Medical and MicroPort MedBot.

Founded merely four years ago, Sightways Robotics has built a comprehensive product portfolio spanning gastroenterology, gynecology, neurosurgery and general surgery within the field of natural orifice flexible surgical robots. Its fully in-house independent R&D technology roadmap, differentiated product positioning centered on flexibility, miniaturization and cost efficiency, coupled with pivotal milestones including FDA market clearance for the ArtiN handheld manipulator and human clinical trial launch of EndoNimble, fully demonstrate the robust technical strength and remarkable commercial potential of this startup.

Faced with competition from global giants such as Intuitive Surgical and Johnson & Johnson, as well as overseas specialized players including EndoQuest and Medrobotics, Sightways Robotics has secured a valuable first-mover advantage in China’s domestic flexible surgical robot market by virtue of product designs tailored to local clinical demands and distinct cost superiorities.This latest financing round will serve as a key catalyst for the company to accelerate technological iteration, advance clinical translation, and expand its presence in both domestic and international markets. Amid the transformative shifts reshaping the global surgical robotics landscape, Sightways Robotics is blazing a distinctive breakthrough path for domestically developed flexible surgical robots.