After a period of dormancy, a domestic surgical robotics company is making another attempt to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Science and Technology Innovation Board (STAR Market).
Recently, the IPO application of this surgical robot firm was formally accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange, marking its renewed push into the capital markets after two years of preparation. The company had initially signed a listing tutoring agreement with China Securities in March 2023, but the process did not advance to the formal application stage. In November 2025, the company restarted its listing journey, once again partnering with China Securities, and completed the filing with the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau in December of the same year. It has chosen the fifth set of listing criteria for the STAR Market, a standard more favorable for technology-intensive sectors like surgical robotics, which require high investment and have a slow ramp-up in volume.
Major Capital Backers Place Their Bets
The company's shareholder roster is notably star-studded, featuring Lei Jun's Shunwei Capital as well as the global medical device leader Medtronic PLC (MDT). Shunwei Capital's support for the company dates back to its first funding round in 2019, where it led the investment, and it continued to invest in subsequent Series B and C rounds, at one point becoming the company's largest institutional shareholder. As a prominent entrepreneur and investor, Lei Jun's personal influence played a crucial role in providing a credit endorsement during the company's early financing stages. In high-barrier sectors like surgical robotics, the backing of well-known investors significantly reduces the cost of financing communication, a value that can even surpass the investment amount itself.
A similar logic applies to Medtronic PLC's (MDT) investment. As a global leader in medical devices, its investment in the company serves as an industry endorsement, directly lowering the trust threshold for the company within domestic hospitals and helping to accelerate its commercial validation cycle. According to corporate data, as of the pre-IPO stage, the company's shareholder lineup also includes over ten other well-known institutions such as SDIC Merchants, T-Fund, Zhen Fund, Shanghai Biomedical Industry Fund, and Advanced Manufacturing Fund, reflecting strong confidence in its growth prospects from the capital markets.
Revenue Soars Over Three Years with Breakthroughs in Domestic and International Markets
The confidence in the company's commercialization stems from its first product, a single-port endoscopic surgical system for thoracic and abdominal cavities. In June 2023, this product received approval from China's National Medical Products Administration, becoming the first domestic and second global single-port surgical robot. Following its market launch, the indications for use expanded rapidly. Clinically, as of the signing date of the prospectus, the company's single-port robot has been used to complete over 3,500 surgical procedures across multiple departments including urology, gynecology, general surgery, thoracic surgery, and pediatric surgery.
The successful product approval and expansion of indications directly fueled an explosive growth in the company's operating revenue. Its revenue was merely 449,000 yuan in 2023, surged to 18.63 million yuan in 2024, and further increased substantially to 81.31 million yuan in 2025.
While rapidly scaling up in the domestic market, the company has targeted overseas markets as a second growth curve for commercialization. In 2025, its surgical robot obtained CE certification for the European Union, securing market access in Europe, and completed deliveries within top-tier European hospital systems in the first half of 2026. An analyst from a leading domestic securities firm noted that the potential for global commercialization is a significant positive factor for unprofitable companies seeking IPOs under the fifth set of listing criteria. However, merely having a conceptual plan for overseas expansion is insufficient and could even be detrimental; substantive commercial achievements are the true endorsement. The company's successful bids and deliveries of complete systems to top public hospitals in Spain and Germany fall precisely into this category of positive content.
In terms of sales models, the company primarily uses a distributor-based model supplemented by direct sales domestically, while employing a predominantly direct sales model overseas. This aligns with the common logic for the global deployment of high-end medical devices, aiming for rapid penetration and scaled volume in the domestic market while establishing deep clinical partnerships and building a global brand abroad. According to the prospectus, the company plans to raise 700 million yuan, with 280 million yuan allocated for product upgrade and R&D projects, 210 million yuan for building a global marketing network, and the remaining 210 million yuan to supplement working capital.
A High-Growth Sector Plagued by Losses, Where an IPO Could Be a Key Turning Point
The Chinese surgical robot market is currently in a phase of rapid growth. According to MedRobot estimates, the total annual sales volume of surgical robots in China for 2025 will be no less than 611 units, significantly higher than the 313 units in 2024. Despite this growth, losses remain commonplace within the domestic surgical robotics industry. Apart from this company, other leading domestic surgical robot firms such as Jingfeng and Weichuang have also reported frequent successes in installation numbers in recent years, yet none have achieved profitability. Part of the reason lies in the still-low clinical penetration rate domestically, with the number of installations per million population being significantly lower than in mature markets like Europe and the US.
However, with the implementation of national payment-side policies, such challenges are expected to be gradually resolved. Currently, regions including Guangdong have released treatment fee standards related to surgical robots. When surgical robots become a revenue-generating project for hospitals and departments, increased installations become a matter of time. Another challenge stems from intense internal competition within the industry. During the peak of capital enthusiasm in previous years, a large number of companies flooded into this hot sector, but a lack of product differentiation and price wars occurring before profitability was achieved have, to some extent, harmed the commercial conversion of surgical robots.
Leading domestic companies have been striving to break this deadlock in recent years. For instance, the company's focus on the single-port technology route allows it to avoid the price war "red ocean" in the multi-port segment, which involves Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci system and several domestic manufacturers. As capital becomes more cautious, the difficulty of securing financing in the surgical robotics sector is increasing. Once industry consolidation is complete, the high-quality companies that remain will face a more favorable market environment. If the company can successfully list, it will significantly alleviate the funding pressure from long-cycle research and development, provide ample resources for continuously expanding sales channels and enhancing academic engagement, bringing it a step closer to achieving profitability.