Eight months ago, TransEnterix (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina) was acquired by SafeStitch (Miami) and became a publicly traded company (Medical Device Daily, Sept. 5, 2013). Through this action, TransEnterix, which develops the SurgiBot, a minimally invasive surgical robotic system that allows the surgeon to be patient-side within the sterile field, began a significant chapter in its history.

More of that chapter continued this week, after the combined company, which kept the TransEnterix name, revealed it had garnered $50 million from the pricing of its previously reported underwritten public offering of 12.5 million shares of its common stock.

"With this most recent transaction it's our first public financing and we're up listing to the NYSE MKT," Todd Pope, CEO of TransEnterix, told Medical Device Daily. "We're using these funds to prepare our final development and commercialization of the SurgiBot. It's a big market with a lot of potential and we felt by far this was the best way for us to go. We completed the raise and it will be $50 million."

The offering is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close April 21.

"We went out with $50 million on the cover and that's what we planned on raising and that's what we were able to raise," Pope told MDD. "We feel great that the markets embraced our opportunity and we were able to fill our total commitment. We went out on the road over the past week and we had tremendous meetings with very well known investors that understand the med-tech market. They understand surgical robotics. [This investment] is certainly a big validation of where they see our technology and our promise in the near term."

The device hasn't received clearance or approval from any regulatory bodies yet, which makes the company securing $50 million from the public offering, even more important, according to Pope. Actual regulatory clearances and approvals could come sometime next year.

"We look to have our regulatory filings in on the device by the end of the year and [hope] to commercialize in [the U.S.] in 2015," he said. "We will also have plans to file for our CE mark in that same timeframe. We will file by the end of the year and plan to commercialize outside of the U.S. in 2015 also."

SurgiBot's size, footprint and cost are smaller than other robotic platforms, which hospitals should find appealing, the company said.

"Our system is designed to do multiple procedures in the abdomen," Pope said. "Our system is free to move around all quadrants of the abdomen, which is very important as you try to leverage the investment of the SurgiBot across multiple procedures. You don't have to rely on just one or two. Lastly our price point for the SurgiBot is right at $500,000 and that's significantly different than existing technology on the market. When you really think of the features that we provide, which include; the surgeon being scrubbed in; a very different price point; and multiple procedures that can be accomplished and completed with the SurgiBot that's really what drove so much of the interest into our company."

It's that interest and a very clear story that enabled the company to raise $50 million.

"From our outset, we've been venture-backed with very supportive investors and they continue to be supportive of the company," he said. "I would say that when you're a publicly traded med-tech company the universe of funds that are available are larger and we were certainly able to go out to see a wide variety of investors. All of them were very excited about not only where we are today but where we're poised to go in the near future. When you're public, all of your information is available and all the potential investors are able to make a decision much quicker. The information is there, they are able to evaluate it, and make a decision to invest on a quicker timeframe and I find that helpful."

But going public isn't a move that's ideal for every company Pope noted.

"I think certainly the public markets and being public is ideal if your company's circumstances support it," he said. "For our company, we have a very dynamic technology that's really going to create a new paradigm in surgical robotics. We have a very big and growing market in surgical robotics. Our price point is at a very attractive place and certainly our features really speak to what surgeons and hospital executives are wanting in the next generation of robotics. For all those reasons I think our public story was really embraced. But I certainly think that the public markets aren't for all med-tech companies. Sometimes companies are playing into a market that's not quite as big; that isn't quite growing that much; or just not as established. I think that's more difficult in the public markets for med-tech investors. I think if all the ingredients come together it's a very viable option and we're glad to be public and we think it suits us well for where we're going in the future."