Momentis Surgical: The Israeli Robotic Surgery Company Operating From Fort Lauderdale
Momentis Surgical builds the Anovo robotic surgery system — miniature humanoid-shaped arms, FDA-cleared, Fort Lauderdale subsidiary. One of two Israeli-founded unicorns on the USIBA Florida roster.
Momentis Surgical builds robotic surgery systems with miniature humanoid-shaped arms that mimic a surgeon's shoulder, elbow, and wrist. The company is headquartered in Tel Aviv with a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary in Fort Lauderdale — one of two Israeli-founded unicorns on the United States–Israel Business Alliance's Florida roster, alongside Adam Neumann's Flow.
From Memic to Momentis: The Origin
The company was founded in 2013 by CEO Dvir Cohen and Professor Nir Shvalb. Cohen came out of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, where he specialized in robotic systems and led the development of opto-mechanical solutions — one of which won the Israel Defense Award. Shvalb brought the academic biomechanics. The founding thesis: surgical robots didn't need better graspers. They needed better maneuverability inside the body.
Originally named Memic Innovative Surgery, the company rebranded to Momentis Surgical in 2022 at the annual meeting of the Society of Robotic and Digital Surgery in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The rebrand included renaming its core technology from the Hominis Surgical System to the Anovo Surgical System.
The Anovo System: What It Does
The Anovo Surgical System is the first and only FDA-authorized surgical robot featuring miniature humanoid-shaped arms with 360-degree articulation. The arms mimic a surgeon's joint movements — shoulder rotation, elbow flexion, wrist articulation — at a scale small enough to operate through a single surgical port. The system was initially authorized for transvaginal benign gynecological procedures, including hysterectomies.
In November 2024, Momentis received FDA 510(k) clearance for its second-generation Anovo platform, which introduces haptic feedback and dual-mode articulation — a significant upgrade that gives surgeons tactile sensation during robotic procedures. The second-gen clearance also expanded the device's approved indications to include ventral hernia repairs, making it the world's first single-port robotics platform approved for that procedure in the U.S.
The Fort Lauderdale Subsidiary
Momentis Surgical Inc., the company's wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, is based in Fort Lauderdale. The Florida operation handles U.S. commercial activities, regulatory affairs, and hospital partnerships. Florida is both a market and a beachhead — the company's early U.S. installations were concentrated in the state, with HCA Florida Northwest Hospital among the first to acquire the Anovo system in 2022.
The Fort Lauderdale subsidiary anchors Momentis's U.S. footprint in a state that has become the default entry point for Israeli medical device companies. The USIBA's Florida–Israel Economic Impact Report counts Momentis among the 429 Israeli-founded companies operating in the state and classifies it as one of two unicorns — privately held companies valued at $1 billion or more — with Florida operations.
Funding, Scale, and the 2023 Reduction
Momentis has raised approximately $128 million across seven funding rounds. The company employs between 51 and 200 people across Tel Aviv and Fort Lauderdale.
In May 2023, Momentis underwent a significant staff reduction, cutting approximately 60% of its workforce. The reduction reflected broader pressures across the Israeli medtech sector during the post-2022 funding correction — a period in which many Israeli startups, including well-capitalized ones, downsized to extend runway. The company has continued operating and expanding its FDA portfolio since the cut.
The Competitive Landscape
Momentis competes in a surgical robotics market dominated by Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci system, which commands the vast majority of the installed base globally. Momentis's differentiation is architectural: a smaller-footprint, lower-cost system designed for single-port procedures that the da Vinci platform wasn't built for. The strategic bet is that single-port and natural-orifice surgery will grow as a category — and that a purpose-built system will outperform a general-purpose robot adapted to the task.
What Momentis Means for the Florida–Israel Corridor
Momentis is the highest-profile Israeli healthtech company with a permanent Florida operation. Its inclusion on the USIBA unicorn list — alongside Flow — gives the Florida–Israel corridor a credible claim beyond real estate and cybersecurity. Israeli medical robotics, designed in Tel Aviv and deployed through Fort Lauderdale, operating in Florida hospitals. That is the corridor working as designed.
This article is part of Olam's Florida–Israel section — ongoing reporting and research on the capital, companies, and community building the Florida–Israel corridor.
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Olam and 5W AI Communications share common ownership. Olam reports independently on the Israeli economy, including on research produced by 5W. Editorial decisions are made by Olam's editorial team.
Ronn Torossian is the founder and chairman of 5W AI Communications, the AI Communications Firm. He is the publisher of Everything-PR and the author of two best-selling editions of For Immediate Release.
