Blue Arbor Technologies, a Michigan medical device company developing ways for people with limb loss to control robotic prostheses, has closed a $10.5m Series A. The round was led by Ottobock, the German prosthetics maker and Blue Arbor's strategic partner. The company announced the close on 28 October 2026.
Ottobock said in February 2026 that it was investing $5m as part of the Series A and taking a seat on Blue Arbor's board. The $10.5m total includes that earlier investment, according to N24. No other investors were named and the valuation was not disclosed.
The company's announcement was datelined Ann Arbor, and it describes itself as based in Grass Lake, Michigan.
“This funding is a testament to the team, the science, and the patients driving this work,”Tod Borton, Chief Executive Officer, Blue Arbor Technologies
What Blue Arbor does
Blue Arbor's RESTORE system links a patient's nervous system directly to a robotic arm or hand. According to Ottobock, electrodes are implanted in muscles that are connected to the patient's nerves. A sensing unit picks up the body's electrical signals and sends them wirelessly to a receiver in the prosthetic socket, which turns them into movement commands.
The aim is to let users move fingers, wrist and elbow independently and at the same time, with more speed and reliability than current prostheses allow. Blue Arbor is developing two versions: an external sensing unit and a fully implantable internal sensing unit.
The company is a spin-off from the University of Michigan. Its founders are Paul Cederna, its president, chief medical officer Theodore Kung and chief technology officer Alex Vaskov, according to Ottobock. Tod Borton is chief executive.
Early results
Surgeons at the Medical University of Vienna implanted the system in a patient for the first time in December 2025, Ottobock said. The new announcement reports a second successful procedure at the same hospital, bringing human implantations to two.
The system has Breakthrough Device designation from the US Food and Drug Administration and has been accepted into the agency's TAP pilot programme, which gives early advice to device makers. It has not been approved for sale.
Blue Arbor's technology was also chosen for a University of Michigan clinical study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, that will compare surface electrodes with implanted electrodes for prosthetic control.
Professor Oskar Aszmann, who directs the Center for Bionic Extremity Reconstruction at the Medical University of Vienna, said surgeons had been impressed by how quickly and naturally the first patients adapted to the technology.
What the money is for
Blue Arbor will use the funding to finish its feasibility studies and to apply for an FDA Investigational Device Exemption, which would allow clinical studies of the external sensing unit in the US. It will also start developing the fully implantable sensing unit.
Ottobock chief executive Oliver Jakobi said the investment fits the company's approach of putting capital into areas that complement its core business and offer long-term growth.
Company website: bluearbortech.com