South India-based in-vitro fertilization (IVF) chain Oasis Centre for Reproductive Medicine has raised $50 million (nearly Rs 400 crore) in an equity round of funding from homegrown private equity fund Kedaara Capital.
The transaction has provided a complete exit to Invascent, who had invested in Oasis Centre since 2016 and had a 29% stake in the company.
VCCircle was the first to report about the development on 13 July.
“We look forward to this partnership as we embark on a journey to pursue attractive synergistic acquisitions and create a leading fertility platform in India and South Asia to further our core purpose of helping couples achieve parenthood,” said Kiran Gadela, co-founder and MD at Oasis Fertility.
Oasis, which was founded in 2009 by Durga G. Rao and Kiran Gadela, had five centres in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana at the time of InvAscent’s investment in 2016. Currently, the firm operates a network of 26 clinics across 16 cities, primarily in southern India. It has also expanded to eastern and western India such as Bhubaneshwar, Ranchi and Pune.
“We seek to partner with like-minded and culturally aligned IVF clinicians and practices across India and South Asia to form a fertility platform with patient centricity and clinical excellence as its bed rock,” said Nishant Sharma, CIO & managing partner of Kedaara Capital.
The private equity firm was founded by Manish Kejriwal, former India head of Singapore state investment fund Temasek, and Sunish Sharma and Nishant Sharma—who were managing director and principal, respectively, at global private equity firm General Atlantic in India. Its recent investments include in GAVS Technologies and online beauty products marketplace Purplle.
The IVF market in India is highly fragmented with both domestic firms and a handful of foreign companies offering their services. Besides Nova, there is Bourn Hall India, part of the UK-based healthcare services firm Bourn Hall International. Bourn Hall India is backed by private equity firm TVM Capital MENA.
In April 2019, US-based private equity firm TA Associates acquired a significant minority stake in Indira IVF Hospital Pvt. Ltd.
Besides specialized IVF firms, Indian healthcare providers such as Cloudnine Hospitals, mainly focused on birthing and Rainbow Hospitals, which chiefly provides pediatric services, also offer IVF services.
