Nutraceutical firm Innovcare Lifesciences Pvt. Ltd has raised Rs 45 crore ($6.4 million) from JM Financial Private Equity Fund II, the growth-capital private equity fund of financial services group JM Financial.
The company will use the funds to boost its current product portfolio, especially for chronic ailments, and enter into new therapeutic segments, Innovcare said in a statement.
Existing investors also participated in the investment round, it added.
Innovcare had raised $1.37 million from Sequoia Capital India in 2014. The venture capital firm had put another $4.5 million along with few individual investors the following year. Subsequently, early stage venture capital firm Kae Capital had invested $1.93 million in the Mumbai-based company, according to VCCEdge, the research arm of Mosaic Digital.
An email sent to Sequoia and Kae Capital seeking details on their participation in the recent funding did not elicit a response till the time of publishing this article.
Innovcare was founded in 2014 by Lalit Wadhawan, Dipin Varma, Chandan Rajmane, and Vijay Dubey, according to its website. The company sells its products across the country, and currently has 15 brands and over 40 stock keeping unit (SKUs).
The domestic nutraceutical market is expected to grow from $2.2 billion in 2015 to $6.1 billion by 2020 at a compounded annual growth rate of over 20%, the company said.
In another deal in the segment, VCCircle reported recently that Affirma Capital, a private equity firm spun out of Standard Chartered Private Equity earlier this year, is investing in Tirupati Group, a nutraceuticals-focused contract research and manufacturing company.
A recent analysis done by VCCircle showed that private equity and venture capital dealmaking has remained relatively stable in the healthcare sector in the April-June quarter.
Earlier this week, Everstone Group said it has made a significant investment to acquire a stake in medical devices firm Translumina.
JM Financial India Fund II is focused on financial services, consumer, IT/ITeS, infrastructure services and manufacturing sectors.
Its investments include microfinance firm Spandana Sphoorty Financial, vending solutions provider Vendiman Pvt Ltd and co-living spaces operator Isthara Parks Pvt Ltd.
