• The funds will enable eCential Robotics to invest in research and development to offer a fully unified and comprehensive robotic solution for less invasive surgical procedures, assisting surgeons from planning through to execution.
• The operation comes under secured global financing of close to €100 million in equity, quasi-equity and debt financing.
• The investment is being made through the €25 billion European Guarantee Fund to support the recovery of European businesses following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The French growth company eCential Robotics, a medtech based in Grenoble specialized in surgical robotics, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have announced the signature of a €15 million financing agreement. The operation aims to finance research and innovation to help the company achieve its ambition of becoming the digital surgery and robotics standard of the operating room for neuro-musculo-skeletal surgery.

After launching its platform unifying 2D/3D robotic imaging and real-time navigation in 2017 and presenting its surgical robotic arm enabling surgeons to perform planned procedures with efficiency and reproducible precision (CE marking and FDA certification in process) last June, eCential Robotics is now pursuing its innovation endeavours to offer a fully unified and comprehensive robotic solution for bone surgery in the operating room. This investment has the potential to unlock new paradigms for facilitating surgical procedures by opening up the possibility for new applications in orthopedic and traumatology surgery. This will enable healthcare professionals to perform less invasive procedures in a safer and serene environment.

EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle commented, “As the European Union’s bank, we are delighted to be contributing to the development of eCential Robotics and its disruptive technology in bone surgery to improve patients’ well-being and practitioners’ use. This loan is in line with the EIB’s policy to support European medtech and surgical robotics companies in order to enhance the quality of care in our healthcare systems and Europe's competitiveness in this rapidly developing sector of the economy.”

“We are very pleased with this financing agreement with the EIB, which is part of global financing of close to €100 million – unprecedented in the French medtech sector. It will support the innovation efforts of eCential Robotics to become a major player in the transformation from traditional surgery to digital and robotic surgery – a field that is experiencing significant growth – by offering hospitals and surgeons who use our products a safe and efficient solution that is in patients’ best interests,” said Laurence Chabanas, eCential Robotics Managing Director.

Background information

About the EIB

The EIB is working to ensure that the European Union is on the cutting edge of the next wave of innovation. As the EU climate bank, it aims to encourage the emergence and deployment of new technologies to meet ongoing challenges such as the energy transition to a new green growth model and to help European innovators become world leaders in their areas of activity. 

The EIB is one of the world's leading climate action lenders. Of the over €10 billion invested by the EIB in France in 2020 (France was the second-largest beneficiary of financing after Italy), 48% went to projects combating or mitigating climate change.

About eCential Robotics

eCential Robotics is a Grenoble-based company specialized in surgical robotics. It develops and markets a unique system unifying 2D/3D robotic imaging and real-time navigation. With 60 patents and 6 trademarks, it is pursuing a disruptive innovation strategy and offers orthopedic and neurosurgeons easy-to-use, cutting-edge technology to visualize their operations, particularly for minimally invasive surgery. The eCential Robotics platform is a universal system that is open to all implants.

Winner of the Bpifrance Global Innovation Challenge in 2018, the company designs and produces all its equipment in Grenoble, France.