Burrill & Company, a diversified global financial services firm focused on the life science industry, has invested an undisclosed amount in Bangalore-based Strand Life Sciences Ltd. The transaction includes a primary, as well as a secondary component, according to a company statement.
The firm did not disclose the name of the investor but said the lead investor of Series A had exited. Strand had raised around $5 million from WestBridge Capital and Ascent Capital in Series A funding over a decade ago. It could not be immediately ascertained which one of the two (or both) exited during the latest transaction.
The proceeds of the Series B funding will be used to accelerate the company’s evolution into precision diagnostics in healthcare space and expand Strand’s reach into global markets. Strand will leverage its expertise in genomics and analytics that it has developed over a decade.
Commenting on the funding, Vijay Chandru, founder, chairman and CEO of Strand Life Sciences, said, “This investment will help Strand realise the true potential of its proven strengths in data science and multi-disciplinary bench analytics by taking those into the clinic.”
David Wetherell, president and COO of Burrill Healthcare Venture and Private Equity Funds, said, “Strand is strongly positioned to play a pivotal role in the transformation of healthcare due to the convergence of information technology and life sciences.”
Tania Fernandez, director at Burrill & Company, added, “Strand is a leading-edge bioinformatics company developing healthcare applications. We intend to work with Strand to help them build a pre-eminent position globally in what we consider the future of medicine – next-generation sequencing (NGS) and its applications in healthcare.”
Strand Life Sciences is into the life sciences business through informatics products and services for research biologists, chemists and toxicologists, and combines visualisation, predictive systems modelling, data integration and scientific content management.
Over 2,000 research laboratories worldwide are licensees of Strand’s technology products, as well as several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Strand and its partner Ganit Labs share additional 10,000 sq. ft. of laboratory space with clinical genomics capabilities and capacity for pre-clinical toxicology assays of lead compounds.
Burrill & Company has $1.5 billion in assets under management and the firm’s businesses include venture capital/private equity, merchant banking and media. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company oversees a global network of offices throughout the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)
