The family behind PepsiCo bottler Jaipuria Group has led pre-Series A funding worth Rs 10 crore ($1.4 million at current exchange rate) in Delhi-based Crysta, a pregnancy and fertility platform.
Jaipuria Group is different from dominant PepsiCo bottler RJ Corp promoted by Ravi Jaipuria who also traces his lineage to the same patriarch as the family behind Crysta investment. Delhi-based Jaipuria Group, which spans real estate, beverages, retail, engineering, IT and plastics, among others, was in news in October when it exited Pizza Hut franchisee in Sri Lanka by selling 26% stake to Samara Capital.
The investment in Crysta, owned by Redcliffe Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd, was led by the family office of Ruchirans and Anuraag Jaipuria, managing directors at Jaipuria Group.
Other investors in the funding round include Mumbai-based Green Shoots Capital, Alfa Ventures, Delhi-based Real Time Ventures and NGB Dx, Dubai-based Petrotech, Steel City Securities, and angel investors.
Redcliffe co-founder Dheeraj Jain said Crysta would use the funds to build out its platform. It will also use the capital to expand its presence across cities in the country. The company is also looking to raise $10 million in its Series A round, he added.
Jain is also managing partner at London-based mid-market investment firm Redcliffe Capital. He is also an independent director at logistics firm Shipsy and at workspace aggregator Qdesq.
Redcliffe co-founder Ashish Dubey said the company’s in-house sequencing platform and quality test menu were perfect for clinicians to work with it. “Unlike traditional pathological labs, we focus on the high-quality high-value segment using molecular sequencing towards precision medicine,” he added.
Crysta says its platform uses in-house technology to offer several diagnostic and screening services, and that it combines them with regular counselling and clinical data management. Some of the tests in its portfolio include non-invasive prenatal screening, pre-implantation genetic screening for IVF (in vitro fertilisation) centres, and carrier and new-born screening.
Redcliffe, set up in 2018, has also diversified to rare disorders, oncology and clinical gene sequencing. The company says it works directly with clinicians and hospitals.