AO Foundation acquires RIMASYS to advance the surgical education ecosystem of the future

DAVOS, Switzerland and COLOGNE, Germany, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The AO Foundation and RIMASYS are pleased to announce that they have taken their strategic partnership to the next level with a full-stake investment by the AO in RIMASYS.

Building on a shared strategic vision and their recent successful collaboration, the AO and RIMASYS have mutually agreed that the AO takes over all remaining shares of the company. Both parties initially joined forces in their efforts to develop high-fidelity and scalable solutions to engage and educate surgeons. RIMASYS's technological capabilities and disruptive product portfolio complements the state-of-the-art expertise in orthopedics and trauma surgery that the AO has built with global impact over the past 60 years. This partnership focuses on advancing the technology and solutions used to train and engage practitioners worldwide in the surgical treatment of trauma and musculoskeletal disorders. It aims to scale and accelerate the growth and geographic reach of RIMASYS's unique technologies beyond Europe and to jointly develop future innovations to advance the surgical education ecosystem. This transaction concludes an initial minority investment in RIMASYS completed by the AO in February 2021.

RIMASYS and the AO remain separate organizations, with RIMASYS operating as a legal entity headquartered in Cologne, Germany, with its dynamic founders group committed to remaining at the helm of their company. RIMASYS retains its name, organizational structure, and business strategy while continuing as a reliable partner serving its customers and meeting its business obligations. Educational offerings such as World Surgery Tour and Trauma Academy will accelerate its growth independently.

Both parties will continue their existing partnerships; the AO continues its exclusive partnership with its industrial partner DePuy Synthes organizing more than 900 educational global events annually while RIMASYS continues its multivendor business model and acts as a source of innovative new educational formats, products, and services for the AO's global surgeon network

RIMASYS will benefit from the AO's expertise and extensive global reach to scale and roll out its educational offerings around the world. Meanwhile, the AO benefits from the fast-paced innovative development cycles of this agile young organization focused on enhancing surgical education, skill training, and medical device development. While lifelike fracture simulations, originally RIMASYS's core technology, have already been used in several AO educational offerings, the company also for the first time showcased their unique mobile OR theater (The Shard) at the recent flagship AO Davos Courses. Alongside this, as another view into the future of medical education and communication, RIMASYS created an immersive 3D platform to give a virtual experience of the famous AO Davos Courses. 

"We believe that we complement each other's strengths to jointly address the long-term challenges of converging the real and digital world. Our ambition continues to best satisfy the needs of the new surgeon generation and all our partners who have supported us since the foundation of our company. Our dynamic start-up spirit will benefit from the global reach and reputation of the AO to build the professional network of the future for the surgical community—and ultimately improve patients' lives," says Marc Ebinger, CEO, and co-founder of RIMASYS.

"RIMASYS is a young, agile, and pioneering organization with a proven track record in educational innovation. With its motivated team and ambitious founders, it will help us drive innovation in online and offline education activities. We will ensure that RIMASYS retains its autonomy while receiving the support it needs to maintain its innovative spirit and unconventional solution development—we are proud to have them aboard and excited about the opportunities that this creates for both organizations," adds Florian Gebhard, president of the AO Foundation.

About RIMASYS

RIMASYS GmbH is a technology-driven health-tech start-up, founded as a university spin-off in 2016. Core of the Cologne-based company are proprietary biomechanical algorithms describing injury mechanisms, utilized to generate lifelike fractured anatomical specimens with closed soft tissue. RIMASYS focuses on enhancing surgical education with high-fidelity solutions and improving patient outcomes by advancing practical skill training and medical-device development. Further innovation is focused on digital health, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. The team of 50 young and ambitious professionals aims to build a disruptive ecosystem of solutions at a fast pace, enhancing surgeon education and interaction. For more information, visit: www.rimasys.com

About the AO Foundation

The AO is a medically guided, not-for-profit organization, a global network of surgeons, and the world's leading education, innovation, and research organization specializing in the surgical treatment of trauma and musculoskeletal disorders. The AO has a global network of over 460,000 healthcare professionals. Each year over 800 educational events are offered around the world, supported by nearly 7,000 faculty members, and attended by over 98,000 participants. The AO has 18,000 surgeon members working in the fields of trauma, spine, craniomaxillofacial, veterinary, and reconstructive surgery. For more information, visit: www.aofoundation.org

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