What You Should Know:
– Osso VR raises $14M in Series A funding led by Kaiser Permanente Ventures (KPV) to expand its virtual reality (VR) surgical training platform.
– Using immersive VR technology, Osso VR’s scalable platform offers a realistic, hands-on training environment that leads to real-world performance gains and ultimately improved patient outcomes.
Osso VR, a Palo Alto, CA-based validated Virtual Reality (VR) surgical training platform, today announced it has raised $14M in Series A funding, led by Kaiser Permanente Ventures, with participation from SignalFire, GSR, Scrum Ventures, Leslie Ventures, and OCA Ventures.
Transforming Surgical Training and Assessment
Founded in 2016 by UCLA and Harvard trained orthopedic surgeon Justin Barad, MD, Osso VR is an award-winning, clinically validated surgical training platform designed for medical device companies, practicing surgeons, residents and medical students of all skill levels. Using immersive VR technology, the scalable platform offers a realistic, hands-on training environment that leads to real world performance gains and ultimately improved patient outcomes. Osso VR is the first training platform to incorporate assessment into its modules, objectively measuring the trainee’s knowledge of steps, level of precision and overall efficiency throughout the procedure providing a benchmark for proficiency.
Recent Traction/Milestones
Osso VR’s platform has become integral to surgical training programs worldwide, currently used by 20+ leading teaching hospitals and 11 top medical device companies in 20 countries. It recently debuted its new platform with an exceptional level of visual fidelity surrounding every aspect of surgery, from anatomical detail to the OR environment. This novel, cinema-quality immersive experience is a result of Osso VR’s unique creative team makeup, consisting of the world’s largest medical illustration team and alums from Industrial Light & Magic, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and Apple. In a recent validation study, surgeons training with Osso VR showed a 230 percent improvement in overall surgical performance.
“Being on the frontlines as a provider gives me a daily reminder that we are facing an accelerating challenge with how we train for and practice procedures in medicine,” said Barad. “We set out from day one with a focused mission: to improve patient outcomes, increase the adoption of higher value medical technology, and democratize access to surgical education around the world. Osso VR has done so much in such a short amount of time, yet we have much more to do. With strategic partners like Kaiser Permanente Ventures, we are ready to work together to ensure that patients all around the world have safe access to the best care.”
Why It Matters
Osso VR joins the other digital health startups that have been widely reported to have fared well despite the pandemic. It’s VR-based surgical training platform has experienced a surge in interest from hospitals, residencies and medical device companies as traditional training opportunities were completely cut off by COVID-19. Now, surgeons meet in virtual reality to train and keep their skills fresh – something a recent University of Chicago study on Osso VR found significantly impacted successful completion rates for surgery.
“I’ve had the opportunity to be on the forefront of healthcare innovation for many years now, and I’ve been witness to accelerating challenges around technical training for healthcare professionals,” said Bryan Sivak, board member and former CTO for the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services. “The global pandemic has significantly exacerbated these challenges, and Osso VR has created a unique, specialized platform that can solve this problem at scale, providing a level of access and maintenance of quality for technical performance in healthcare that up until now had not been possible.”
