US medtech group Stryker is putting about $400m (£300m) of preferred equity into Cambridge's CMR Surgical, securing exclusive US sales rights to the Versius robot and an exclusive option to acquire 100% of the company at a later date.
CMR Surgical, founded in 2014 and headquartered in Cambridge, builds Versius, a modular robotic system for soft-tissue keyhole surgery. The original Versius launched in 2019 and the second-generation Versius Plus followed in December 2025. The company says the platform has been used in more than 45,000 procedures across over 30 countries.
The alliance, announced on 12 October, is one of the largest single cheques into a British medtech company this year. It is also structured as much more than a funding round.
The deal
Stryker's investment takes the form of preferred equity and is subject to customary closing conditions. The stake is a minority one, and neither side has disclosed the percentage Stryker will hold or the valuation at which the shares were priced.
Alongside the capital, Stryker becomes the exclusive US sales agent for the Versius portfolio. CMR keeps control of product development and will continue to lead commercialisation in every market outside the US.
The most significant clause for the cap table is the option. Stryker gains an exclusive right to acquire all of CMR's outstanding equity in future. The price and timing of any exercise have not been disclosed. CMR has said there is no change of control at signing, that any takeover would need approval from its board and shareholders, and that no timing should be assumed.
Andy Pierce, Stryker's group president for medsurg and neurotechnology, is expected to join CMR's board.
The valuation question
CMR's last official valuation was $3bn, set in 2021 when it raised a $600m Series D led by SoftBank and Ally Bridge. That round made it one of the UK's best-funded private medtech companies.
The new terms leave that figure untested in public. By keeping the entry price and the option strike undisclosed, the deal gives existing shareholders a defined route to an exit without fixing a mark for the business today.
Cambridge Innovation Capital, CMR's first institutional investor and its largest UK backer, described the investment as a British manufacturing and technology success story.
What happens next
For CMR, the US has been the hardest market to crack against entrenched competition in soft-tissue robotics. Handing distribution to Stryker, which already sells endoscopy and visualisation equipment into US operating theatres, gives Versius an established sales channel there.
Massimiliano Colella, CMR's chief executive, called the alliance a significant milestone for the company. Stryker framed soft-tissue robotics as a high-growth adjacency to its existing business.
The investment remains subject to regulatory approvals. The next marker for shareholders will be whether, and on what terms, Stryker chooses to exercise its option.
Original source: Cambridge Independent — https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/business/stryker-invests-400m-in-cmr-surgical-and-could-buy-the-re-9486644/ (see also Stryker — https://www.stryker.com/us/en/about/news/2026/stryker-cmr-surgical-announce-strategic-alliance-advance-robotic-assisted-surgery.html)
