Proceeds from the Series B round of funding, which also saw participation from existing investor Artiman Ventures, will be used by the Gurgaon-based startup to expand its suite of clinical tests for oncology, infectious diseases and gynaecology.
“The next phase will be marked with geographical expansion as well as addition of new clinical areas, enabled by latest, cutting-edge technology,” said Zoya Brar, co-founder, Core Diagnostics.
The investment in Core Diagnostics is also the second transaction by Eight Roads Ventures, which was formerly known as Fidelity Growth Partners, over the past 30 days. In November, it invested about Rs 168 crore in Chennai-based non-banking financial company IFMR Capital.
“The investment in CORE is a reflection of our continued excitement in emerging companies that provide cutting-edge healthcare solutions for the Indian patient. CORE is ideally. placed to take advantage of the increasing shift in India and developing countries towards earlier cancer diagnosis and evidence-based medicine,” said Prem Pavoor, Partner, Eight Roads Ventures.
The deal also fits into the investment strategies of, both, Eight Roads Ventures and F-Prime Capital Partners, given their strong records in backing healthcare, biosciences and technology ventures.
Founded in 2012 by former Google alumnus Brar and Arghya Basu, Core provides high-end diagnostics services for disease stratification and therapy selection, and claims to conduct more than 2,000 tests covering cardiology, cancer, infectious diseases, reproductive disorders and endocrine disorders, among others.
The company, which operates in 100 cities across India, and in eight other countries, had raised Rs 27 crore from Artiman Ventures in 2013.
Buoyed by a vibrant initial public offerings market, India’s broader healthcare diagnostic sector has emerged as a favourite of the investment community, which has already recorded two successful exits through the public market route over the past 12 months.
On December last year, the IPO of Dr Lal PathLabs was oversubscribed 32 times, while Thyrocare Technologies saw its offering oversubscribed by more than 72 times in May earlier this year.
Separately, VCCircle reported that Pune-based Krsnaa Diagnostics had raised about Rs 50 crore from Somerset Indus Capital Partners and Kitara Capital.
Expedient Healthcare, which owns and operates home service health-test platform Healthians, a portfolio company of YouWeCan Ventures, the Yuvraj Singh-backed early-stage fund, raised about Rs 20 crore in a new round of funding led by Japanese early-stage investor Beenext and Digital Garage.
Source: The Economic Times
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