Germany’s MDA raises €3.3M to build AI-powered surgical tools that bring expert judgment to the operating room.
In a significant stride toward advancing surgical intelligence, Germany-based healthtech startup MDA (Medical Decision Alliance) has secured €3.3 million in seed funding to embed expert-level decision-making into surgical robots. The funding aims to address a long-standing gap in robotic surgery: the absence of the clinical judgment possessed by experienced human surgeons.
Bridging Experience and Automation in the OR
While robotic systems offer unmatched precision, they often fall short in emulating the nuanced decision-making that comes with years of surgical practice. MDA’s solution is to develop AI-driven tools capable of real-time, expert-informed guidance during procedures.
The funding round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), one of Germany’s leading early-stage investors, with support from private investors and seasoned life science entrepreneurs.
“With this funding, we will double our team and deepen our collaboration with clinical experts and medtech partners,” said MDA co-founder Dr Gunter Trojandt. “Our mission is to make surgical excellence scalable and accessible.”
Virtual Mentorship in Every Procedure
MDA’s flagship platform, Virtual Proctor, digitizes surgical expertise by capturing the workflows, techniques, and decisions of top global surgeons. These insights are transformed into adaptive algorithms capable of offering step-by-step guidance to surgical teams in real time.
Professor Markus Graefen of the Martini-Klinik, who collaborated with MDA, noted, “Together we’ve digitised 20 years of surgical expertise into a system now accessible to doctors worldwide. To my knowledge, there’s nothing else like it.”
Strategic Team with Proven Credentials
MDA is helmed by the same team that led the Surgical Process Institute, later acquired by Johnson & Johnson. Founders Dr Gunter Trojandt, Annett Christ, and Daniel Bauer bring a potent mix of medical, technical, and operational expertise to this new venture.
Dr Lena-Sophie Schütter, Investment Manager at HTGF, added, “MDA’s structured development of a robust reference database lays the groundwork for safer and more standardised robotic surgery across institutions.”
Next Steps: Smarter Robots, Broader Reach
With three medtech partnerships already in place, MDA plans to expand the capabilities of its AI systems to adapt to various surgical environments and patient needs. Its software integrates live data from electronic records, imaging systems, and robotic sensors, providing dynamic risk assessment as operations unfold.
The company is also tackling the global shortage of skilled surgeons by offering scalable digital training, especially vital in under-resourced regions.
Looking ahead, MDA envisions a future where surgical AI evolves from real-time support to shared task management, and eventually, to partial autonomy under human supervision—paving the way for a new era in surgical innovation.
