Eight Roads Ventures on Thursday appointed Chintan Kothari as the venture capital firms’ partner.
Kothari, a former investment banker, will be a part of Eight Roads Ventures’ India healthcare team in Mumbai.
Prior to this, Kothari led the healthcare vertical for Avendus Capital’s investment banking business. In his 15-year experience as an investment banker, he has been the director of healthcare and consumer investment banking verticals for Citigroup and associate director at Rothschild in India.
“As a part of his role, Kothari would be responsible to back entrepreneurs of early-growth stage companies and identify new investment opportunities across the healthcare and life sciences value chains,” the company said in a statement.
In India, Fidelity-backed Eight Roads Ventures has backed numerous startups including logistics startup Shadowfax, logistics software firm FarEye, biologics company Enzene Biosciences and agri-tech firm Enko, among others.
“Healthcare in India is evolving at breakneck speed and I believe that we’re going to witness more innovation in the sector over the next few years. This is an exciting time to be part of the startup ecosystem,” said Kothari.
“His experience and network will be invaluable given both the breadth and reach of our existing investments, and our ambition to partner with exceptional founders within life sciences, healthcare services, consumer health and digital health,” said Prem Pavoor, senior partner, head of India and healthcare investments, Eight Roads Ventures.
“Chintan’s arrival is another example of our commitment to continue to grow our team to meet the explosive growth in opportunities we foresee in the Indian healthcare industry,” he added.
In 2022, Eight Roads launched its first India-dedicated life sciences and healthcare fund of $250 million. Its previous investments in the space include over 25 fast growing businesses including e-pharmacy platform PharmEasy, injectable drugs manufacturer Caplin Steriles, animal health company Ashish Life Science, drugmaker Laurus Labs and cellular immunotherapy company Immuneel Therapeutics.
The firm has been investing in India since 2007. At present, it has a team of over 40 people in the country.