Healthcare start-up MDA – Medical Decision Alliance has raised EUR 3.3 million in seed financing. The founding team, led by experienced life science entrepreneurs Dr Gunter Trojandt, Annett Christ, and Daniel Bauer, has developed advanced surgical support systems—software solutions designed to record the surgical techniques and decision-making routines of leading surgeons in detail and transfer them to AI-based assistance platforms.
Making Surgical Robots Smarter, Pooling Distributed Knowledge:
Surgeons increasingly use surgical robots and other specialized systems today to improve procedure precision. However, individual decisions during surgery remain at the surgeon’s discretion and may be incorrect in some cases. Based on the decades of experience of renowned surgeons and in collaboration with leading manufacturers of robotic surgical support systems, MDA is developing decision-making algorithms that suggest the most appropriate workflow for a wide range of patient situations.
In the future, surgical teams will be supported by intelligent algorithms as if the most experienced surgeon in the field were sitting right next to them. This will not only benefit the learning teams but also the patients.
Making Surgical Knowledge Available Worldwide:
A key priority is the education and training of the next generation of surgeons. MDA is committed to sharing expert knowledge through programmatic training solutions that are always up to date and available 24/7 – the digitalisation of surgical education.
Professor Markus Graefen, Medical Director of the Martini-Klinik at UKE GmbH, the Prostate Cancer Centre at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf: “Together with MDA, we have digitised all key aspects of our surgical skills and developed an AI-based workflow engine called Virtual Proctor. Other clinics and doctors can now access it and benefit from our 20 years of experience – as far as I know, there is no other system like it.”
MDA as a Partner for Innovative Medical Technology Companies:
In addition to robotics, which is the current focus of the MDA, the Virtual Proctor will also serve as a digital platform for interested MedTech partners to present their innovative products along specific indications. The focus will also be on the knowledge of experts who already use these products daily. This makes it easier for new customers to acquire additional expertise, as the Virtual Proctor provides conceptual knowledge, visual and clinically relevant content based on established standards and experience, and real added value for clinics.
Dr Lena-Sophie Schütter, Investment Manager at HTGF, comments: “MDA’s well-coordinated team combines experience, expertise and a strong network – qualities that already characterised the success of their previous start-up. Through the structured development of a unique reference database, they are laying the foundation for AI-based training and decision-making algorithms. In this way, they are creating the conditions for greater safety, comparability, and cross-clinic standards in robotic surgery to provide better care for patients. ”
About MDA – Medical Decision Alliance:
MDA was founded in 2023 by Dr Gunter Trojandt, Annett Christ, and two business angels, Jozsef Bugovics and Nils Kröber. MDA has a total of 10 employees and is based in Leipzig, Germany. The founding team has been working together for more than 10 years and successfully sold their last joint company, SPI – Surgical Process Institute, to Johnson & Johnson, a leading global manufacturer of medical devices and surgical robots, in 2017.
The focus of SPI and MDA is on the operating room and improving the quality of patient outcomes. MDA works closely with leading physicians, clinics, and medical device companies to develop all solutions.
With the capital from the current round of financing, MDA will double the size of its team, recruit additional clinics (knowledge providers) and medical device companies (collaborators), and develop AI-based surgical training and surgical support systems solutions.
About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds:
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing start-ups in the fields of DeepTech, IndustrialTech, ClimateTech, DigitalTech, Life Sciences, and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports start-ups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Moreover, across its funds, HTGF has over 2 billion euros under management. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 770 start-ups and achieved almost 200 successful exits.
