Medtech (2025)

Diagnostics, robotics, brain-computer interfaces and all kinds of monitoring gizmos: medtech is a very broad church. Surgical robotics is Europe’s hottest medtech vertical and Cambridge-based CMR Surgical is the segment’s biggest raiser. The company, which banked $200m from investors in April, won regulatory approval last year from the US Food and Drug Administration for use of its Versius system that is used in procedures such as gall bladder removal.

While CMR Surgical is the runaway leader for surgical robotic funding in Europe, a number of other startups have picked up sizeable rounds in recent years. Switzerland’s DistalMotion raised a $150m round in 2023, Italy’s Medical Microinstruments picked up $110m in 2024 and France’s Moon Surgical raised $55m in 2023.

There’s also buzz surrounding startups developing new ways to measure and monitor health data, as founders and investors look to tap into the trend of more people using wellbeing and fitness devices like Apple Watches and Finland-made Oura rings (good for measuring your sleep and can even double as engagement rings, as Sifted learned in an interview with hotshot Lovable founder Anton Osika last week). And for anyone willing to subject themselves to a personal MOT, there’s Swedish startup Neko Health, backed by billionaire Daniel Ek of Spotify, that offers full-body scans at two London clinics. The company’s mammoth $260m raise in January was a standout in a bumper quarter, where total investment swelled above €1bn (see quarterly breakdown below).

Medtech startups tend to have to invest serious time and resources into developing a product before jumping through hoops to get it approved by regulatory bodies. These hurdles can occasionally present a business opportunity. In April, Berlin-based Rematiq, which automates medtech product compliance processes, raised a €5.4m seed round. Few devices will require such rigorous regulation as one of the most breathtaking technologies in development: brain-computer interfaces that probe our grey matter to decode its secrets (we talk to one non-invasive brain scanning company below).

It’s been a choppy 2025 so far for medical device makers, who have much to fear in President Trump’s trade battle with China. Experts say the industry’s highly integrated global supply chains, which can see a single device drawing parts from more than 20 different countries, had left the industry highly exposed to a global tariff war. The global industry is also facing the threat of “reciprocal” US tariffs on the EU and other components supplier countries in south-east Asia, which are on a 90-day pause pending negotiations with the Trump administration.

The Financial Times reported recently on how Trump’s tariffs affect CMR Surgical. The company now faces a 10% tariff on exports to the US on machines that cost about £1m, while American competitors are able to export tariff-free to the UK after the British government elected not to retaliate against the US. Trump’s aggressive tariffs have not only tanked the market but scared away any company thinking about IPO-ing soon. The $50bn US medtech company Medline has already postponed its public listing.