Dopl Technologies raises $6.3M for robotic ultrasound system targeting rural healthcare gaps

Dopl raises $6.3M to bring remote robotic ultrasounds to rural patients as it pursues FDA clearance

Dopl Technologies announced $6.3 million in new funding to support the development and commercialization of a remotely operated robotic ultrasound system. The Bothell, Wash.-based startup has now raised more than $8 million. Dopl is pursuing FDA clearance for its platform, which pairs off-the-shelf ultrasound probes with commercially available robots. The system facilitates communication between a remotely based ultrasound technician (or sonographer) and the robot, allowing the sonographer to conduct the exam with haptic feedback. The platform also includes a video connection to allow conversations between the sonographer, patient and onsite health personnel. The goal, said CEO Ryan James, is to target underserved and typically rural communities "to improve access to care and the time it takes for patients to get that care." While Dopl could eventually create remote interfaces for a variety of health services, ultrasound has widespread applications. "People say that ultrasound is the new stethoscope," James said. While perhaps best known for its use in obstetric exams during pregnancy, the diagnostic tool is also employed for cardiac and vascular exams and can be used to detect stroke, cancer, heart disease and other conditions. The startup was co-founded by James, Chief Operating Officer Steve Seslar, and Chief Medical Officer Wayne Monsky, who began researching novel care delivery methods together at the University of Washington in 2017. The system pulls together a suite of technologies including fine-motor robotic control, haptics, computer vision, AI, and advanced networking. The new investment allows the company to hire staff to help it navigate the FDA approval process. Dopl is conducting clinical evaluations of its platform and aims to submit an application for FDA clearance next year. Dopl currently provides in-person ultrasounds using its technology through traveling sonographer services. FDA clearance would allow it to perform remote robotic exams and scale its platform. The startup has a letter of intent with a rural health care collaborative that includes 31 critical access hospitals in Washington and has partnerships across the nation, including on the East Coast. The company also expects to take advantage of opportunities through the Rural Health Transformation Program, a $50 billion federal effort that will distribute funds in every state from fiscal years 2026 to 2030. The program is targeting innovations that expand access to care. The seed round was led by SpringTide Ventures, which was joined by WRF Capital, Tacoma Venture Fund (pre-seed round lead), HeartX, Transform Health Ventures, Precursor Ventures, and additional early-stage institutional investors. Dopl was a finalist for startup of the year at the 2026 GeekWire Awards. There is competition in this market, including traditional ultrasound companies and startups. A notable rival is AdEchoTech, which launched in France in 2008 and has since received FDA clearance to sell in the U.S. James said Dopl's haptic technology sets it apart, allowing remote technicians"to actually feel the patient as they're scanning." The remote robotic care delivery industry is rapidly growing, James said, and "represents the next wave of care delivery and shift in mindset in terms of how clinicians operate."

Dopl Technologies raises $6.3M to bring remote robotic ultrasound to rural hospitals

Dopl raised $6.3M for a telerobotic ultrasound platform letting sonographers work remotely. Founded by ex-Nvidia AI engineer and practising cardiologists. FDA 510(k) pathway established. Targeting rural care gaps. Dopl Technologies raised $6.3 million in seed funding led by SpringTide Ventures to advance a telerobotic ultrasound platform toward FDA clearance. The system, called Traverse, lets sonographers remotely operate a robotic arm via haptic controllers and cameras to perform diagnostic ultrasound exams on patients at distant sites. The platform is hardware-agnostic, integrating off-the-shelf robots and ultrasound systems into existing hospital infrastructure. Total funding is now over $8 million. The company was founded in 2022 by a former Nvidia medical AI engineer alongside practising cardiologists and radiologists. The broader team includes alumni from Butterfly Network, Philips, Microsoft, and Amazon. Dopl has completed FDA pre-submission engagement and established a 510(k) regulatory pathway. The funding will support verification, validation, FDA submission, and initial pilot deployments at rural hospitals in Washington State. While pursuing FDA clearance, Dopl launched CareBridge, an interim service that sends travelling sonographers to underserved hospitals in person. Patients in communities where Dopl operates see up to a 90% reduction in wait times. The plan is to transition these partner hospitals to the telerobotic system once it clears regulatory review. The company estimates a $40 billion annual reimbursement opportunity for US hospitals as telerobotic imaging scales nationally. Corti took a similar approach to medical coding, treating a broken clinical workflow as a reasoning problem and building AI around it rather than replacing clinicians. More than 50 million Americans live in areas with limited access to diagnostic imaging. The sonographer shortage is structural: training takes years, the workforce is aging, and rural hospitals cannot recruit specialists to live in remote communities. AI has shown it can outperform biopsies in rare cancer assessment, but most imaging AI requires a human to acquire the scan in the first place. Dopl's bet is that the acquisition step can also be done remotely, turning a sonographer shortage into a distribution problem that robotics and connectivity can solve.