Will CFO’s Departure be Challenging for Vicarious Surgical?Will CFO’s Departure be Challenging for Vicarious Surgical?

Vicarious Surgical has announced CFO Bill Kelly is departing the company for other opportunities. This comes as the Waltham, MA-based firm is facing challenging regulatory timelines for its surgical robot developed to treat ventral hernias.

Kelly has been serving the company since January of 2021. He will assist the company to ensure minimal disruption and a successful transition of responsibilities prior to his departure, which is slated for Jan. 2, 2025.

“My tenure at Vicarious Surgical has been a period of significant progress and accomplishment, both for the company and for me personally,” Kelly said in a release. “I am deeply grateful for the opportunities I have been afforded and the collaborative spirit of the entire team. I depart with immense pride in our collective achievements and unwavering confidence in the company's continued success under its strong leadership.”

In a research note, Ryan Zimmerman, a BTIG analyst, addressed Kelly’s departure – noting it was another challenge for the company.

“Our read is that the CFO departure does not necessarily signal anything is wrong with the Vicarious System, and it's more than likely that the CFO had opportunities that presented better near-term potential,” Zimmerman wrote in a research note. “Either way, it's another challenge for Vicarious to have to deal with on the pathway towards clearance.”

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Zimmerman noted, “While not reiterated by management with the announcement, we expect the change in leadership will not impede Vicarious’s ability to meet its development timelines. As such, we believe Surgical remains on track for an early-to-mid FY26 FDA submission following clinical trials in FY25.”

Kelly’s departure comes as Vicarious has dealt with delays in vying for regulatory approval. In November of 2023, the company said it was predicting a delay to the overall program that would be between 12 and 18 months. This sparked concern from analysts that the company could potentially run out of capital before getting its surgical robotics solution to market.

During a November earnings call, Kelly addressed the company’s burn rate and silenced those concerns, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript.

“We formalized our cash burn guidance for this year, and we’ll look to do so at the same time at the next earnings call,” Kelly said according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. “That being said, I think our cash burn, while the nature of some of those expenditures might change as we go from development expenditures to more material purchases and first clinical patient-type expenditures. We believe they’ll be in the ballpark of 2024 spending. We have cash runway through into 2026.”

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Vicarious Surgical went public through a $1.8 billion special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC) merger with D8 Holdings in 2021. During that time, one of the hottest trends in the medical device space was companies undergoing SPAC mergers.

Vicarious is almost a lone wolf from the trend – with many of the companies dropping out of SPAC mergers or just simply folding.