On April 13, Diligent Robotics, a company developing service robots for hospitals, raised more than $30 million in Series B financing. The round was led by Tiger Global, with participation from True Ventures, DNX Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, E14 Fund, Next Coast Ventures, Boom Capital, Gainels and Cedars-Sinai Health Ventures.
So far, the company's total raised amount has approached $50 million. Thomaz, the company's CEO and co-founder, said the new round of financing will be used to expand the company's scale and help solve supply chain problems to meet the outbreak of demand for the health care service robot Moxi.
Founded in 2017, Diligent Robotics is a leader in social robotics and the first company to develop robots with social intelligence and mobile manipulation capabilities. In 2018, the company launched Moxi to help hospitals operate 24/7 by assisting clinical staff with non-patient-facing tasks. Examples include delivering supplies from a central warehouse, delivering lab samples, distributing personal protective equipment, delivering medication, delivering personal items for patients, and moving lightweight items between units.
Over the years, the mismatch between growth and demand for healthcare workers has led to stress and burnout in the healthcare sector. COVID-19 has exacerbated the crisis over the past two years.
In a survey of 6,500 critical care nurses released in fall 2021 by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, 92 percent of respondents said the COVID-19 pandemic has drained hospital nurses. 66% of respondents said they were considering leaving due to stress.
The U.S. alone is projected to need more than 1 million new nurses in the future. Meanwhile, nurses spend up to 30% of their time on non-value-added tasks rather than caring for patients. As a result, more and more health systems are looking to automate in order to augment the workforce at critical times.
Since the launch of Moxi and its integration into multiple healthcare systems, overall clinical processes have improved and nursing team members have more energy to care for patients.
Connie Lee, Partner at Tiger Global, said: "Robotic automation will be the key to optimizing the efficiency and productivity of healthcare operations. As a leader in robotics, Diligent Robotics has developed impressive products and scaled to meet market demands. , delivering tremendous value to customers. We are excited to partner with Diligent Robotics as they continue to have an increasingly positive impact on the healthcare system.”
Another company using robots in healthcare is Movia, which launched TheraPal Home and TheraPal Clinical Assist Aides late last year to help children with autism and other developmental and intellectual disabilities practice social skills and improve reading and math.
Additionally, last month, surgical robotics and mixed reality company Zeta Surgical closed a $5.2 million financing round that will be used to complete the development of its neurosurgical navigation platform Zeta, and its non-invasive focused ultrasound system ZetaFUS.
