Medtronic is investing roughly $700M in Cornerstone Robotics and will distribute the Hong Kong startup’s Sentire surgical system in select markets outside the United States. The deal hands the medtech giant a second robotics platform to sell alongside its own Hugo system.
Cornerstone built Sentire entirely in-house, including an immersive console with dual-console capability. The system won CE Mark approval in May for minimally invasive general, gynecologic, thoracic and urologic procedures, and already holds market approvals in China and Singapore.
Medtronic frames the two platforms as complementary multi-port options that give hospitals flexibility across procedures, clinical environments and budget models. Robotic-assisted surgery adoption still sits in the single digits globally, which the company sees as a substantial runway for both systems.
Hugo already operates across more than 35 countries on six continents and won US clearance within the last year. Medtronic says procedure volumes on the platform are expanding more than twice as fast as the broader robotic surgery market, with cumulative cases on track to pass 50,000 by the end of its fiscal year.
Morgan Stanley advised Medtronic on the investment, with Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton as lead counsel. Cornerstone turned to Kirkland and Ellis and Global Law Office.
