Biopharmaceutical company PlasmaGen BioSciences Pvt. Ltd said on Tuesday it has raised $25 million (Rs 160.4 crore) from investors led by private equity firm Eight Roads Ventures India.
US-based F-Prime Capital Partners also participated in PlasmaGen's first external round of funding, the Bengaluru-based company said in a statement.
The investment will help PlasmaGen expand its product portfolio, deepen market penetration and strengthen its product supply chain, founder and managing director Vinod Nahar said.
PlasmaGen, which was founded in 2010, focuses on developing and making blood plasma-derived products including Albumin, IVIG, Factor VIII, Anti-D Immunoglobulin and Rabies Immunoglobulin. It sells these products to hospitals and governments in both India and emerging economy markets.
These products are administered across various therapeutic areas such as neurology, haematology, oncology, immunology, paediatrics and rheumatology. The company has a pan-India presence with a network of over 200 hospitals and 5,000 clinicians.
The company said it aims to address the critical shortfall of plasma products that exists in India and many emerging markets.
“There is a very large gap between demand and supply of plasma products not only in India but across Asia; India is very strategically placed as an emerging economy with huge demand potential,†said Ranjeet S Ajmani, CEO, PlasmaGen.
As part of the investment, Eight Roads partner Prem Pavoor and F-Prime partner Robert Weisskoff will join the board of PlasmaGen.
“The investment in PlasmaGen is a reflection of our continued conviction in the domestic pharmaceutical market... we believe that India is rapidly catching up on global benchmarks around the awareness and use of these critical products,†said Pavoor.
Both Eight Roads and F-Prime are proprietary investment arms of global asset management giant Fidelity International.
Eight Roads Ventures
The private equity firm, formerly known as Fidelity Growth Partners, invests across sectors including healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
In April, it re-invested in Medwell Ventures Pvt. Ltd, which operates home healthcare firm Nightingales Home Health Services Pvt. Ltd.
Last year, the PE firm's new healthcare bets included Core Diagnostics Pvt. Ltd, which provides specialised diagnostics services; Eywa Pharma Pte Ltd, a finished dosage forms manufacturer; and the consumer healthcare unit of drugmaker Cipla.
It has also invested in medical devices firm Trivitron Healthcare and hospital chain Cygnus Medicare.