Jafco invests $2m in Japan surgical robot maker

The business was set up in May this year with support from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)'s Start Project, a government-backed program which assists in the commercialization of research coming out of Japanese Universities.

According to a release, the company's founders - Kotaro Tadano, Daisuke Haraguchi and Kenji Kawashima of the Tokyo Institute of Technology - have spent the last 10 years developing precision robots that can be used to assist in minimally invasive surgery. The investment will be used to further develop the technology and help bring it to the market.

Jafco has invested in robotics before. Earlier this year, portfolio company Cyberdyne, a robot suit maker, raised $89 million when it floated on the MOTHERS (market of the high-growth and emerging stocks) section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Around same time, state-backed Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) acquired a 20% stake in Squse - a Kyoto-based company that makes robotic hands - for JPY500 million ($4.9 million)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has also sought to back robotics by creating a special taskforce charged with tripling the size of the industry to JPY2.4 trillion by time the time the country hosts its first Robot Olympics in 2020. 

 

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