A Singapore medtech company trying to move a common childhood surgery out of the operating theatre and into the clinic.
NousQ builds CLiKX, described as the world's first handheld, robotic and sensor-controlled applicator for ventilation ear-tube insertion. The device performs the procedure with a single click - creating a precise, atraumatic slit in the eardrum and placing the tube - while real-time sensors monitor for safety.
The pitch is deceptively small. Ventilation (grommet) tube insertion is one of the most common childhood ear operations in the world, used to drain fluid from the middle ear in cases of otitis media with effusion - the condition parents know as "glue ear." Traditionally it means a trip to the operating theatre, general anesthesia and a surgical microscope, all to complete a procedure that itself takes only minutes.
NousQ's argument is that most of that overhead is inherited, not necessary. By automating the delicate part of the operation and adding sensor guidance, CLiKX is designed for the outpatient clinic under local anesthesia - or no anesthesia at all. The company frames the benefit plainly: same-day treatment, lower cost, less trauma and shorter waits.
The device uses a single-use, sterile-packed shaft and recharges on a proprietary docking station. It received approval from Singapore's Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and, according to the company, has completed pivotal clinical trials in ASEAN and is commercially available, with US trials being pursued.
For a founder who spent a quarter century performing the operation the old way, the design brief was personal: keep what works about the surgery, remove the parts that make it expensive, slow and frightening for a child.
Over a million children a year undergo ear-tube surgery under general anesthesia. NousQ's whole thesis is that the setting - not the surgery - is what needs to change.
NousQ sells business-to-business, but it designs around four audiences at once. For ENT surgeons, CLiKX promises added precision and confidence through its software algorithms and portable magnification. For hospitals and outpatient centers, it frees up operating-room capacity for higher-acuity cases. For payors and health systems, it targets lower per-procedure cost, shorter wait times and relief from surgeon and facility shortages.
And at the end of the chain are patients - chiefly children with glue ear, plus adults - who stand to skip general anesthesia and hospitalization altogether. That layered value proposition is what NousQ leans on when it talks about "democratizing" access to a routine but bottlenecked operation.
A handheld, sensor-controlled robotic applicator that inserts a ventilation ear tube in one click. Single-use sterile shaft, rechargeable docking station, real-time safety monitoring. HSA-approved.
Built by Dr Lynne Lim, a senior ENT surgeon with 25 years of practice across 10+ countries, and CTO Gan Chee Wee. The device answers a problem its founder lived daily.
Reusable hardware and anesthesia-free procedures mean fewer greenhouse-gas-heavy anesthetic gases and less waste - a rare case where the cheaper option is also the cleaner one.
How is NousQ different from the alternative? The default alternative is still the operating room. Among startups chasing the same shift to in-office tube placement - devices like Tusker Medical's Tula and other in-office tube systems - NousQ's differentiator is the robotic, sensor-guided single-click mechanism paired with a surgeon-founder's clinical playbook. Its edge is less about one feature than the whole workflow: keep the surgery, drop the theatre.
NousQ designs, develops, manufactures and commercialises CLiKX itself. The commercial model is familiar to anyone who knows medical devices: sell the durable applicator and docking station, then earn recurring revenue from the single-use sterile shafts consumed with every procedure. It is a razor-and-blade shape wrapped around a regulated surgical device.
That places NousQ in the ENT segment of the broader surgical-robotics and minimally invasive surgery market - a corner that is large, routine and, until recently, largely untouched by automation. The company's NAICS classification (339112, surgical and medical instrument manufacturing) and SIC codes (3841, 3844) put it squarely in device manufacturing rather than services or software.
Where it fits in the market is as a category-definer for a single high-volume procedure, rather than a general-purpose surgical robot. That focus is the strategy: pick one common, well-understood operation, prove the clinic-based model, and expand from there. It is the opposite of the platform-first approach many robotics companies take.
The funding trail tracks that thesis. NousQ closed a seed round of over US$1.2 million in 2021, collected a US$175K non-dilutive grand prize from MedTech Innovator in 2022, and in 2025 closed an oversubscribed US$7.5 million Pre-Series A earmarked for regulatory submissions and US trials. Total disclosed funding sits in the low millions - lean for medtech, which the company casts as a feature of its capital discipline.
Dr Lynne Lim and Gan Chee Wee launch NousQ at LaunchPad @ One-North and close a seed round of over US$1.2M.
Wins the Asia Pacific Accelerator and a US$175K non-dilutive grand prize for CLiKX at the APAC Challenge Grand Finals.
CLiKX clears Singapore's HSA and goes commercial; Dr Lim is named BioSpectrum Asia Entrepreneur of the Year.
Closes an oversubscribed Pre-Series A and wins the MedTech World Dubai pitch competition, setting up US trials.
Dr Lynne Lim is founder and CEO - a senior consultant ENT surgeon and adjunct associate professor at the National University Health System Singapore, with surgeries performed across more than ten countries. Gan Chee Wee is co-founder and Chief Technical Officer.
Sources: NousQ, MedTech World, BioSpectrum Asia, MedTech Innovator, Tracxn, LinkedIn. Figures approximate where noted.