Ronovo Surgical
Shanghai developer of Carina, a modular laparoscopic surgical robot cleared in China for four specialties and backed by Johnson & Johnson's venture arm.
Ronovo Surgical was founded in Shanghai in 2019 by Dr. John Ma, who serves as founder, chairman and chief executive, with co-founder Ying Mao as chief technology officer; the company says its founding team came from Intuitive Surgical, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and KUKA. Its Carina platform uses mobile, modular patient carts rather than a single fixed tower, and the company pitches it as a flexible and lower-cost option for laparoscopic surgery, sold with Carina Vision and Carina instruments. China's NMPA approved Carina in March 2025 for general surgery, gynecology, urology and thoracic surgery, which Ronovo describes as the first modular surgical robot in China cleared for four specialties at once. It has signed a collaboration agreement with Johnson & Johnson Medical (Shanghai) to widen access to Carina in parts of the Chinese market, has regulatory submissions under way in Europe and South America, and reports more than 200 patent applications worldwide. In December 2025 it added two non-executive directors, the robotic surgeon Eduardo Parra-Davila and Jeroen van Heesewijk, previously senior vice president for Asia Pacific and global distribution at Intuitive. Funding history from the company's releases: a Series A announced on 23 April 2021, amount undisclosed, co-led by Matrix Partners China and Vivo Capital with seed investor Lilly Asia Ventures and GGV Capital; an oversubscribed round led by LongRiver Investments announced on 1 February 2023, when the company said it had raised more than 50 million dollars since 2020; a 44 million dollar Series B on 20 June 2024 led by Guolian Capital and INCE Capital; and a 67 million dollar Series D on 5 September 2025 led by JJDC, Johnson & Johnson's corporate venture arm. The Series D release also refers to a 2025 Series C led by Granite Asia and says the company raised more than 100 million dollars in 2025 in total; no primary page gives the Series C date or amount, so it is not recorded as a separate round.
- Latest funding
- $67M
- Total funding
- $111M
- Latest valuation
- —
- Founded
- 2019
- Country
- China
- Sep 5, 2025Series D$67M
- Jun 20, 2024Series B$44M
- Feb 1, 2023Venture round (unnamed)—
- Apr 23, 2021Series A—