In the controlled chaos of an operating room, a single miscommunication can cost time, money, and patient safety. For years, the standard of care for complex procedures has relied on a paper checklist and the team's shared, often unspoken, understanding of the steps. It is a system that works, until it doesn't. ExplORer Surgical, a Chicago-based healthtech company, started with a simple, humane premise: what if every member of the surgical team had the same, real-time digital guide?
Founded in 2015, the company built a cloud-based platform designed to improve communication and coordination among surgeons, nurses, and technicians [MedCity News, April 2019]. The product functions as an interactive digital playbook, mapping out each step of a procedure for the entire team to follow on a shared screen. The goal was to reduce variability, cut down on wasted supplies, and provide administrators with real-time performance data [Chicago Innovation, retrieved 2026]. It was a product born from direct observation, initially developed at The University of Chicago Medical Center by co-founders Jennifer Fried and Dr. Alex Langerman [GHX, 2021].
The Pivot from Hospital to Device Maker
The company's initial focus was the hospital customer, the direct user of its workflow tool. But by 2017, a different buyer began knocking on the door. Medical device companies, whose expensive implants and instruments are used in these very procedures, saw a powerful application for the platform [MedCity News, April 2019]. They needed a better way to train surgical teams on the use of their products, observe real-world adoption, and gather data on operating room efficiency.
ExplORer Surgical pivoted, expanding its hospital-facing product into a dedicated platform for medical device companies to observe and analyze operating room activity [MedCity News, April 2019]. This shift in customer focus proved decisive. While the platform still served hospitals, device companies became its larger and more active customer base. The software helped these companies "reduce variability and bring best practices to life" by providing a customized digital playbook for use during procedures [OrthoFeed, September 2020].
Funding a Clinical Workflow Bet
To fuel this expansion, ExplORer Surgical raised a total of $10.6 million across several financing rounds. A $3 million Series A in 2017 was followed by a $5 million round in April 2019, both led by Aphelion Capital with participation from the University of Chicago and others [MedCity News, April 2019]. A further $2.6 million was reported raised from 30 investors in April 2021 [MedTech Innovator, April 2021].
The company's funding history illustrates its steady, staged growth.
| Round | Amount | Lead Investor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | $1,000,000 | Unknown | 2016 [Startup Intros, retrieved 2026] |
| Series A | $3,000,000 | Aphelion Capital | 2017 [MedCity News, April 2019] |
| Series A | $5,000,000 | Aphelion Capital | April 2019 [MedCity News, April 2019] |
| Series A | $2,600,000 | Unknown | April 2021 [MedTech Innovator, April 2021] |
Traction in a Regulated Arena
ExplORer Surgical's traction with device companies materialized quickly. By March 2021, the company reported adding 10 new medical device customers in just three months [MedTech Innovator, April 2021]. Its client roster grew to include some of the largest global medtech firms as well as startups like Prytime [Craft.co, March 2021]. This growth was not about replacing legacy hospital systems like Epic, but about inserting a new, specialized layer of workflow intelligence that both hospitals and device partners found valuable.
The platform's features evolved to meet this dual-audience need. In September 2020, the company launched remote case support capabilities, allowing for real-time audio, video, and data collection during a procedure,a feature particularly useful for device company experts supporting a surgery from afar [OrthoFeed, September 2020].
Navigating a Crowded OR Technology Landscape
The operating room is a crowded field for software, and ExplORer Surgical's success was not guaranteed. The company faced competition from several angles:
- Procedure-Specific Platforms: Companies like Digital Surgery (acquired by Medtronic) focused on simulation and training for specific surgeries.
- Patient Engagement Tools: Platforms such as SeamlessMD manage the patient journey before and after surgery, but not the intraoperative phase.
- Legacy Hospital IT: Massive electronic health record systems like Epic offer broad workflow management, but lack the granular, procedure-specific playbook functionality.
- Surgical Planning Software: Competitors including 7D Surgical and eCential Robotics concentrate on pre-operative imaging and planning for orthopedic and spinal cases.
ExplORer Surgical's wedge was its specific focus on real-time, intraoperative team coordination and its early pivot to serve the medical device industry's unique data and training needs. This created a revenue stream that was potentially more scalable than selling directly to hospital IT departments.
The Path to an Acquisition Exit
The company's journey reached a logical endpoint in October 2021, when it was acquired by Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX), a company that operates a vast network for medical supply chain transactions [GHX, 2021]. For GHX, the acquisition was a move upstream from the supply chain into the point of care, gaining a window into product usage and efficiency directly in the OR. Founder Jennifer Fried resigned from the company following the sale [Medical Design and Outsourcing, retrieved 2026].
The story of ExplORer Surgical is ultimately about a specific patient population: individuals undergoing complex surgical procedures, from orthopedic repairs to neurosurgery. For these patients, the stakes of team coordination are not abstract. The standard of care today still varies widely from hospital to hospital and surgeon to surgeon, often reliant on individual experience and paper protocols. ExplORer Surgical's bet was that a digital, shared playbook could make best practices repeatable, turning high-stakes, variable procedures into more standardized, safer routines. Its acquisition suggests that the companies who manufacture the tools for these procedures believed that bet was worth making.
Sources
- [MedCity News, April 2019] ExplORer Surgical raises $5M for its cloud-based platform for the operating room | https://medcitynews.com/2019/04/explorer-surgical-raises-5m/
- [MedTech Innovator, April 2021] Explorer Surgical raises nearly $2.6M | https://medtechinnovator.org/cohortnews/explorer-surgical-raises-nearly-2-6m
- [GHX, 2021] Global Healthcare Exchange Announces Acquisition of Explorer Surgical | https://www.ghx.com/news-releases/2021/global-healthcare-exchange-announces-acquisition-of-explorer-surgical/
- [Craft.co, March 2021] Company Information | https://craft.co/explorer-surgical
- [OrthoFeed, September 2020] ExplORer Surgical Launches New Remote Case Support Features | https://orthofeed.com/2020/09/19/explorer-surgical-launches-new-remote-case-support-features-updating-real-time-audio-video-and-data-collection-capabilities/
- [Chicago Innovation, retrieved 2026] ExplORer Surgical - Chicago Innovation | https://chicagoinnovation.com/winners/explorer-surgical/
- [Startup Intros, retrieved 2026] ExplORer Surgical: Funding, Team & Investors | https://startupintros.com/orgs/explorer-surgical
- [Medical Design and Outsourcing, retrieved 2026] Company News | https://www.medicaldesignandoutsourcing.com/
- [DeviceTalks Minnesota, retrieved 2026] Jennifer Fried | DeviceTalks Minnesota | https://minnesota.devicetalks.com/speaker/jennifer-fried/