SINGAPORE (March 16): Local medical robotics firm EndoMaster announced Thursday that it raised S$20.5 million in March – one of the largest sums for Series B funding for medical technology companies in Singapore.

EndoMaster’s robotic-assisted surgical system is able to remove gastro-intestinal cancer tumours without the need for surgical incisions on the body or organ.

According to EndoMaster, gastro-intestinal cancer is diagnosed in over three million people worldwide and causes more than two million deaths every year.

Current treatments to remove gastro-intestinal tumours require incisions on the abdomen and cutting out the affected sections of the stomach, colon or rectum.

A spin-off by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and National University of Singapore (NUS), EndoMaster’s non-invasive tumour-removal lowers surgery time to less than one hour.

“The EndoMaster system was designed to enable complicated surgeries to be performed using existing openings like the mouth and anus, without requiring additional surgical access points,” says EndoMaster co-founder Louis Phee.

“In the future, we aim to perform more ‘no-hole’ surgeries on other major organs. The cost and medical benefits are apparent,” Phee adds.

EndoMaster says it is targeting the fast-growing global medical robotics market. The market is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 21.1%, and expected to more than double to US$12.8 billion by 2021.

“The new funds will enable EndoMaster to scale up this disruptive innovation, making endoscopic surgery easy, safe, and accessible to many more doctors in this world,” says EndoMaster co-founder Lawrence Ho.

EndoMaster says it is looking to launch its product in Europe in late 2018. It aims to surpass S$100 million in revenue within five years of its product launch.

To find out more about the Master and Slave Transluminal Endoscopic Robot (MASTER), which was featured in The Edge Singapore in March 2014, click to read: Medical marvel.