Esperer Onco Nutrition Pvt. Ltd, which provides nutritional therapy for cancer patients, on Wednesday said it has raised funding from Zenfold Ventures.
Raktim Chattopadhyay, founder and CEO at Esperer, said in a statement the company will use the fresh capital to expand in the US and European markets and hire key people in finance, marketing and supply chain.
He, however, did not disclose the financial details of the transaction.
The Mumbai-based company, which was founded in 2018, provides nutritional therapies to improve the quality of life of cancer patients. It aims to provide a 360-degree solution to the global cancer portfolio right from preventive oncology to cancer disease management using nutraceutical as a complementary therapy.
“Esperer nutri-therapies provide the much-needed body strength for onco-patients to overcome the side effect of primary treatment providing better outcomes,” said Chattopadhyay.
Arun Dubey, managing partner at Zenfold Ventures, said that some of the ventures it is currently building are in the nutraceuticals space and hence its investment in Esperer.
“We believe Esperer has a very scientifically-backed approach to nutrition and has strong capabilities to execute the vision,” he added.
Zenfold Ventures is a venture fund. It invests to incubate new ventures, grow early-stage companies and form joint ventures. It is sector and stage agnostic. Some of the segments it has currently invested in include specialty and fine chemicals, animal healthcare, manufacturing and deep science and technology besides nutraceuticals, according to its website.
Healthcare segment
Healthcare startups have attracted significant investor attention this year. This is in line with a VCCircle survey that health-tech is the most preferred sub-domain for venture capitalists this year.
Earlier this week, Wellthy Therapeutics Pvt. Ltd, a digital therapeutic company specialises in chronic disease management, raised Rs 30.33 crore in its pre-Series A funding round from early-stage venture capital firm Saama Capital.
Earlier this month, Akna Medical Pvt. Ltd, which operates a healthcare supply chain, raised $7 million in its Series A funding from LGT Lightstone Aspada.
Just last month, startups in the segment that raised funding include women’s healthcare platform Zealthy and medical healthcare records platform MedCords.
In March, Unicorn India Ventures also made its debut bet on Sascan Meditech Pvt. Ltd, a startup that provides automated solutions for non-intrusive oral cancer screening, after announcing its first close of a new fund.
In February, Mumbai-based Qure.ai Technologies Pvt. Ltd raised $16 million (Rs 115 crore) in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital.
In February, healthcare data analytics startup Innovaccer Inc. raised nearly Rs 500 crore in Series C funding from marquee investors including Steadview Capital, Tiger Global and WestBridge Capital.
According to a VCCircle analysis, some health-tech startups are expected to benefit from the current coronavirus crisis.