The emergence of telesurgery technology is shaping new possibilities for healthcare delivery, with Sovato Health at the forefront. Spearheaded by co-founder and CEO Cynthia Perazzo, the company has been gathering momentum on both technical and financial fronts, recently securing $26 million in Series B funding, including investment from Intuitive Surgical. These moves signal optimism about expanding access to minimally invasive procedures through remote-enabled surgical robots. Perazzo points to increasing collaboration between device makers, health systems, and surgeons, aiming to ensure remote procedures are both safe and effective. The landscape is evolving, hinting at broader adoption of device-agnostic platforms and telesurgery-native products, facilitated by robust partnerships and ongoing regulatory navigation.
Earlier coverage of telesurgery initiatives often highlighted isolated demonstrations and regulatory hurdles, focusing on technical proofs of concept more than on market-readiness. Since then, industry collectives have made progress publishing technical and cybersecurity guidelines, and recent news showcases a more integrated approach—partnering directly with both manufacturers and health systems. Sovato’s latest funding and collaborative efforts reflect an expansion in scope, moving beyond trials toward commercial deployment, and marking a shift from theorizing to active ecosystem building.
How Does Sovato Collaborate With Device Developers?
Sovato Health has established relationships with various robotics manufacturers—such as Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson MedTech, and newer entrants from Asia—helping prepare their platforms for telesurgery applications. Detailed technical guidelines, developed in partnership with companies like Medcrypt and input from clinical leaders, address key concerns around security and interoperability for remote operations. According to Perazzo,
“We’ve been cultivating partnerships in the market because our place is between the device and the health system to connect them through our products and services.”
These efforts concentrate on enabling robots to safely transmit data required for remote surgical procedures.
What Role Does Sovato Play With Healthcare Providers?
The company’s strategy extends to working with hospitals, surgeons, and health systems, focusing on adapting workflows to support remote-enabled care. This involves collaborating with surgical teams during product development as well as supporting health systems through the shift to geographically unbound resource utilization. As Perazzo explains,
“Now we can relieve the geographic boundaries and optimize the utilization of the ORs in the system as well as the specialists and the surgeons, and the interventionists in the system.”
Regulatory support plays a critical role, with Sovato providing technical and procedural data to facilitate device developers’ approval submissions.
Will Telesurgery Capabilities Become Standard in New Devices?
Many robotics manufacturers are designing upcoming platforms with telesurgery features as a default expectation. Devices such as LivsMed’s Stark surgical robot and several Chinese models have either demonstrated or attained telesurgery capability, with new products from Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson MedTech anticipated to include remote functionality upon approval. The trend is moving toward broad, system-wide adoption of remote-enabled surgery, bolstered by early demonstrations and international regulatory momentum. Sovato’s device-agnostic platform positions it to integrate across disparate systems with a focus on standards and evidence generation.
Across the surgical robotics industry, there is mounting interest in applying telesurgery to a diverse set of procedures, from soft-tissue and orthopedic operations to neurovascular interventions. The potential to address unmet needs in stroke care and high-volume diagnostics such as tele-cystoscopy is attracting attention, especially as minimally invasive approaches gain popularity. Sovato’s engagements with both manufacturers and providers indicate ongoing shifts toward scalable adoption, leveraging telementoring and telecollaboration as intermediate steps to remote surgery.
The progress in telesurgery is a result of both technological maturation and ecosystem alignment around security, interoperability, and clinical validation. For readers interested in the field, understanding the regulatory landscape—especially 510(k) procedures in the U.S.—and collaboration models between tech developers, health systems, and clinical leaders is crucial. While early news focused on feasibility and pilot demos, current developments emphasize readiness for broader deployment. As device-agnostic solutions like those from Sovato interface with industry giants and innovative startups alike, the coming years are likely to see significant shifts in how specialized care is delivered remotely.
