The Chinese minimally invasive robot developer Ronovo Surgical announced it has raised $67 million to expand the commercial reach of its system within the country, with a helping hand from Johnson & Johnson.
The Shanghai-based company said it has inked a collaboration agreement with J&J’s local subsidiary, with plans to offer its Carina modular robotic surgery platform alongside hardware from the medtech giant in parts of China.
Ronovo’s new series D financing was also led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s venture capital arm, known as JJDC, alongside backing from Lilly Asia Ventures, INCE Capital and Granite Asia.
With the addition of a previously undisclosed series C round earlier this year, which was led by Granite Asia, Ronovo said it has collected more than $100 million in 2025.
“We’re excited about the strategic collaboration with Johnson & Johnson MedTech, which will further accelerate our commercial momentum in China while laying the foundation for international growth,” Ronovo’s founder, chairman and CEO, John Ma, Ph.D., said in a statement.
The Carina platform, with up to five robotic arms mounted separately on wheeled carts, received a regulatory green light from China’s National Medical Products Administration this past March, spanning urologic, gynecologic, thoracic and general surgeries. Ronovo said it has additional submissions underway in Europe and South America.
Earlier this year, the company put forward a clinical study in the Nature journal Scientific Reports examining the system’s performance in urology procedures. All 19 procedures were completed robotically without converting to manual control, including surgeries to remove portions of the kidney, prostate and adrenal glands, among others. One major complication was recorded, where a patient needed to undergo percutaneous drainage following a procedure to correct a blockage in the urinary tract.