Healthcare-focussed private equity firm InvAscent has invested Rs 70 crore ($9.27 million at current exchange rates) in eye-care chain Sharp Sight Group of Eye Hospitals.
The development comes just five days after VCCircle exclusively reported that InvAscent had struck its fifth deal from its third fund, India Lifesciences Fund-III, by investing in the New Delhi-based company.
Sharp Sight chief executive officer Deepshika Sharma said in a statement on Monday the eye-care chain would use the funds to strengthen its presence in Tier-II cities and other underserved areas over the next three years.
“The thought process and ideology of InvAscent blended perfectly with our long-term vision. We strongly believe we will be able to leverage their experience to our beneï¬t as they have expertise in backing many single-specialty chains,” Sharma added.
Sharp Sight was founded in 1997 by Samir Sud and Kamal B Kapur. It has seven centres in north India and two in Tajikistan and Nigeria, according to its website.
InvAscent
This is not InvAscent's first investment in the eye-care segment. It had previously invested in Dr Agarwal’s Health Care Ltd from its debut fund.
InvAscent exited Dr Agarwal's in 2016 after Hong Kong-based private equity firm ADV Partners invested around $45 million in the Chennai-based healthcare company.
InvAscent provides growth capital to companies in the pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical-technology industries. The PE firm's third fund hit the hard cap at $250 million in January this year.
Deals in the eye-care segment
Last year, Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings pumped Rs 270 crore into Dr Agarwal’s Healthcare.
In May 2019, Mahindra Partners, the private equity arm of the diversified Mahindra Group, invested Rs 206.5 crore in New Delhi-based Centre for Sight. This deal paved the way for the full exit of venture capital firm Matrix Partners India.
In June 2019, IIFL Asset Management Ltd acquired a majority stake in Infigo Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd, which is promoted by Shridhar Thakur, former chief operating officer of eye-care chain Vasan Healthcare, and Anil Kamath, ex-managing director at Wockhardt Hospitals.