MAKO Surgical

What MAKO Surgical does

MAKO Surgical is a medical device company specializing in robotic-arm assisted surgery for orthopedic procedures, founded in 2004 and headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The company developed the Mako SmartRobotics platform, which integrates advanced imaging with robotic assistance to enable personalized surgical planning and precision-guided bone preparation. Its core technical differentiator is haptic feedback technology, most recently embodied in the Mako Total Knee 2.0 launched in March 2023, which provides surgeons real-time tactile guidance during bone cutting and implant placement in knee replacement procedures. Each system costs approximately $1 million and is sold to hospitals and medical centers performing orthopedic surgeries.

MAKO's business model relies on enterprise field sales to acute-care hospitals and orthopedic surgery centers, with multi-year service contracts and bundled clinical training and demonstration support. Marketing is conducted through medical conferences, hospital showcases, and direct engagement with hospital leadership. The company was publicly traded on NASDAQ (ticker: MAKO) before being acquired by Stryker Corporation in 2013 for $1.65 billion, after which it became a wholly-owned subsidiary with its technology integrated into Stryker's broader musculoskeletal portfolio and distributed globally through Stryker's direct sales force. Prior to acquisition, MAKO raised approximately $164M across multiple venture rounds between 2005 and 2012 from investors including Sycamore Ventures, Tudor Investments, Alta Partners, and Deerfield, and acquired Pipeline Biomedical Holdings in October 2013.

Name

MAKO Surgical

Legal name

MAKO Surgical Corp.

Website

https://makosurgical.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

MAKO Surgical develops the Mako SmartRobotics platform, a robotic-arm assisted orthopedic surgery system featuring haptic feedback for precision-guided knee and hip replacements, sold to hospitals via Stryker's enterprise sales force.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Orthopedic Surgical Robotics

NAICS

Surgical and Medical Instrument Manufacturing (339112), Surgical Appliance and Supplies Manufacturing (339113), Medical Equipment and Supplies Manufacturing (3391)

SIC

Surgical & Medical Instruments & Apparatus (3841), Orthopedic, Prosthetic & Surgical Appliances & Supplies (3842)

akta.pro primary industry

Surgical Robotics & Computer-Assisted Surgery Platforms (HLAHADAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Surgical Navigation, Tracking & Intraoperative Guidance (Ortho/Neuro/ENT) (HLAHADAG), Hip & Knee Reconstruction (Arthroplasty) (HLAKALAH), Surgical Navigation, Robotics & Patient-Matched Instrumentation (Ortho/Spine) (HLAHAEAL), Healthcare & Assistive Robotics (HDAAAIAC)

Keywords

• Robotic-assisted surgery
• Orthopedic surgical robotics
• Haptic feedback technology
• Joint replacement robots
• Surgical navigation systems

Headquarters

HQ city

Fort Lauderdale

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

MAKO Surgical designs, manufactures, and sells robotic-arm assisted surgical systems for orthopedic procedures, primarily total knee and hip replacements. Its Mako SmartRobotics platform integrates CT-based 3D surgical planning with haptic feedback-guided robotic arms that constrain the surgeon's movements to a predefined volume, enabling precise bone cutting and implant placement. The systems are sold to hospitals and medical centers, with clinical demonstration, training, and service support bundled into enterprise sales contracts.

Product overview

MAKO Surgical (acquired by Stryker Corporation for $1.65B) offers the Mako SmartRobotics platform, an orthopedic surgical robotics system. The core product line includes the Mako SmartRobotics system and its specialized application Mako Total Knee 2.0, which features haptic feedback technology for precision-guided knee replacement surgeries. The platform enables personalized orthopedic surgeries with robotic assistance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Mako SmartRobotics Robotic-arm assisted orthopedic surgical system for total and partial knee and hip replacement procedures. Combines CT-based 3D preoperative surgical planning with a haptic-feedback robotic arm that guides the surgeon during bone preparation and implant placement. Sold to hospitals and medical centers as a capital equipment purchase with bundled clinical demonstration, training, and service support.
• Mako Total Knee 2.0 Updated application/software release for the Mako SmartRobotics platform targeting total knee replacement. Features haptic feedback technology that provides surgeons with real-time tactile guidance during bone cutting, helping prevent over-cutting and improving implant positioning accuracy. Aimed at hospitals and orthopedic surgery centers performing total knee arthroplasty.

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Brainlab: Brainlab provides surgical navigation, planning, and increasingly robotics-adjacent software; it competes indirectly via OR integration and digital surgery workflows relevant to Mako's surgical planning stack.
• Renishaw (Neuromate / neurosurgical robotics): Renishaw's neuromate and neurosurgical robotics capabilities overlap with Mako's haptic-feedback and navigation expertise, representing an adjacent robotic-surgery platform with comparable precision engineering roots.
• Globus Medical (ExcelsiusGPS): Globus Medical's ExcelsiusGPS extends surgical robotics into spine and increasingly orthopedic applications, competing with Mako for hospital capital and OR integration real estate.

Direct peers

• Think Surgical (TSolution One): Think Surgical develops the TSolution One active robotic system for orthopedic joint replacement, directly competing with Mako in bone preparation and implant placement for knee and hip procedures.
• Zimmer Biomet (ROSA): Zimmer Biomet's ROSA Knee and ROSA Hip robotic platforms compete head-to-head with Mako in orthopedic surgical robotics, leveraging Zimmer's deep hospital and orthopedic surgeon relationships.
• Johnson & Johnson DePuy Synthes (Velys): J&J's Velys robotic-assisted solution targets the same total knee arthroplasty use case as Mako, with comparable hospital procurement channels and digital surgical planning workflows.
• Smith+Nephew (CORI): Smith+Nephew's CORI handheld and CORI Surgical System is a direct competitor in robotic-assisted orthopedic surgery, targeting the same hospital and ASC customers for knee arthroplasty.
• Stryker (Mako platform): Stryker is both the parent and primary operator of the Mako platform; comparable because Mako competes in the same orthopedic surgical robotics category as direct alternatives while operating inside Stryker's broader implant and instrumentation portfolio.

Broad incumbents

• Medtronic (Mazor / Hugo): Medtronic's Mazor spine robotics and Hugo surgical platform represent broader medtech incumbents expanding into surgical robotics, with overlapping hospital buyers and digital surgery strategies even though they are less specialized in knee arthroplasty.
• Intuitive Surgical (da Vinci): Intuitive's da Vinci platform dominates soft-tissue robotic surgery and competes for the same hospital capital budgets, OR integration footprints, and surgeon training resources as Mako, though in a different surgical specialty.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/MyMAKOplasty
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/64187

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds6 records

Investors11 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about MAKO Surgical