Motorica, a Moscow-based high-tech prosthetic startup, has attracted 300 million rubles (some $4 million at the current exchange rate) from two major government funds: the sovereign wealth fund RDIF and the Far-East High Technology Fund. The news was reported yesterday by business publication RBC, which cited exchanges with the Far-East fund’s press service.
Touting itself as “the only company in the world to make prosthetics understand you,” Motorica presents two products: ‘CYBI Fingers’ and ‘CYBI Hand.’ These body-powered upper limb prostheses “allow to clench and unclench your fist to perform daily actions.”
The company will use the allocated funds to improve its existing products and to develop a virtual reality solution for the rehabilitation of patients with prosthetics. A VR helmet will “immerse the patient in a game that simulates working on a space station orbiting Mars.” The patient will play the role of a station employee — an engineer, a scientist, a pilot, etc. — which will help him or her master the high-tech prosthesis.
Motorica also plans to develop a service network in Russia and other countries, and to open a research center in Vladivostok, the capital of the Russian Far-East, in partnership with the medical center of the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU).
Launched in 2015, Motorica initially raised $60,000 from Rusnano, the state-controlled nanotech corporation; then secured $1.5 million from the RDIF in 2019, according to CrunchBase information.
Over the past few years the RDIF backed Russian startups more and more actively, investing in food delivery, telemedicine and other tech sectors as well as well as a variety of anti-covid projects.
The Far-East High Technology Fund was launched in 2018 by three state-backed organizations: the Far East Development Fund, national fund of funds RVC and nanotech giant Rusnano. The fund received 5 billion rubles (roughly $75 million) to invest in fast-growing tech companies that can “nurture the business environment of the Russian Far-East” while “holding a promise for the future.”
