Canbank Venture Capital Fund Ltd (CVCFL) today announced an investment of Rs 25 crore by way of equity shares and convertibles for a minority stake in Bengaluru-based Bioneeds India Ltd.
Canbank Venture made the investment in the pre-clinical contract research organisation (CROs) through its fifth fund - Emerging India Growth Fund.
"We are investing Rs 25 crore to pick up a minority stake in Bioneeds, which supports pharmaceutical, bio-technology and agrochemical companies by providing quality and cost effective pre-clinical development and regulatory services", CVCFL Managing Director S Thiruvadi told reporters here.
"Globally, Indian scientific community is highly respected for their ingenuity, professionalism and contribution they have made in the field of new drug discovery. Also, they have created positive impact in other industries in which Bioneeds offer their services.
"High-quality scientific manpower, coupled with cost advantage of India, is a compelling business reason for many international companies to outsource their research work in India", he said.
Bioneeds said it plans expansion to set up biopharma labs and recruit additional 75 scientists.
With this expansion, Bioneeds will be offering a full range of discovery, development and regulatory services to pharma, biotech, medical device and agro-chemical companies, Bioneeds Managing Director S N Vinaya Babu said.
"Our high growth till date has been funded by internal accruals and borrowings. We have been actively looking for funds to strengthen our balance sheet and expand services.
"The funds from CVCFL will be deployed to build additional Vivarium and Discovery labs with state-of-the-art equipment. This will help us broaden our service offerings and deepen our relationship with 250-plus active customers we currently service", Babu said.
The company aims to be counted among the best global CROs offering complete range of services.
"We aim to become Rs 100-crore company in the next 3 years from the present Rs 26 crore", Babu said.
On future growth plans, Babu said the company plans to invest around Rs 150-200 crore by setting up a manufacturing facility for biosimilar products. It will be funded through debt and equity and the company is also considering tapping capital market through an IPO in the next 3 years.
