What You Should Know:
– roclub, a pioneering teleoperation platform for medical technology, announced it has closed an oversubscribed $11.7M Series A funding round led by Smedvig Ventures and YZR, with participation from Speedinvest and key angel investors including ElevenLabs founder Mati Staniszewski.
– The capital injection is earmarked to supercharge roclub’s expansion across the U.S. market and fuel the development of its exclusive marketplace for remote technologists. roclub’s platform promises to redefine medtech operations by maximizing equipment utilization, improving patient wait times, and securing business continuity amidst rising labor costs.
The Medtech Paradox: Idle Scanners and Wasted Resources
The co-founders, Dr. Matthias Issing and André Glardon, launched roclub after experiencing firsthand the pain points of technologist shortages while running a large chain of diagnostic centers in Europe. They recognized that the most advanced medical equipment is useless without the skilled personnel to operate it.
In the U.S., this challenge is compounded by high labor costs and the central role of reimbursement rates, which put immense pressure on providers to increase efficiency.
roclub’s solution is a cloud- and AI-based teleoperation platform that allows technologists to manage any medtech equipment from any vendor, from a remote location.
Key Operational and Financial Impact:
- Vendor-Agnostic Remote Control: A smartphone-sized “roclub connector” interfaces with virtually any medtech device (starting with MRI/CT), enabling qualified technologists to control the equipment and communicate with on-site staff and patients from anywhere.
- Business Continuity and Utilization: By allowing one remote technologist to potentially manage multiple machines simultaneously, the platform secures maximum medical device utilization and prevents costly equipment downtime due to staffing gaps.
- Reduced Patient Wait Times: Maximized machine uptime directly reduces patient backlogs and wait times, ultimately driving better care outcomes.
- Hybrid Workforce Solution: The technology offers technologists the flexibility of hybrid work, helping hospitals attract and retain specialized talent despite geographic barriers and skills shortages.
Joshua Seyler, President of roclub Americas, emphasized the timeliness of the solution: “U.S. healthcare providers are embracing innovative medtech solutions to optimize operations and meet the rising demand for radiology procedures. roclub, the world’s only dedicated remote, vendor-agnostic platform company, is proud to bring our transformative solution to the U.S. market.”
Market Strategy: The Remote Staffing Marketplace
A significant portion of the new Series A funding will fuel the launch of roclub’s exclusive remote staffing marketplace in late 2025. This marketplace will directly connect U.S. healthcare organizations with pre-vetted remote technologists available to operate connected medtech devices.
- Addressing the Skills Gap: The marketplace has the potential to be a transformational resource for rural hospitals and clinics that suffer from a chronic lack of access to qualified, specialized staff.
- Global Access to Expertise: Co-founder Matthias Issing stated the company’s vision is to “become the global standard for teleoperation in medtech,” enabling complex procedures and transforming access to expert care into a truly global capability through the unification of AI, robotics, and ultra-low-latency connectivity.
