It’s so far, so good for Vicarious Surgical (NYSE:RBOT) during its first week of trading as a public company.
The robotic surgery company’s shares were up more than 19% to $15.05 by midday today. During the company’s first day of trading yesterday, shares rose 2% to $12.60 apiece, even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 600 points.
In April, the surgical robotics company announced that it would go public through a $1.1 billion merger with the special purpose acquisition corporation D8 Holdings — a deal that the SPAC’s shareholders approved on Sept. 15. The roughly $220 million in proceeds from the SPAC merger is expected to fund the further development and planned commercialization of the single-incision Vicarious system, which received FDA breakthrough device designation in 2019.
Vicarious’ robot includes features such as arms that replicate human motion, and it boasts 9 degrees of freedom per arm with 360-degree visualization, all through a 1.5 cm incision.
“We look forward to transforming the future of surgical robotics, with our company backed by global institutional support, multiple large-scale strategic partners, and investment from distinguished healthcare executives with deep experience in driving surgical robotic adoption,” Vicarious Surgical’s co-founder and CEO Adam Sachs said in a news release after the D8 Holdings shareholders vote.
The company has established a new corporate headquarters in Waltham, Mass.