Vyome Biosciences, a pioneering firm trying to develop its own in-house treatments through research in India, said it had raised $8 million in a fund round led by Sabre Partners, with existing Series A investors Kalaari Capital and Aarin Capital also co-investing.
The company focuses on developing treatments for skin conditions such as persistent dandruff and skin fungal infections as well as cures for resistant acne and other skin bacterial infections. It was founded by Dr. Shiladitya Sengupta, co-chair at the Center for Regenerative Therapeutics at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston and assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Rajesh Gokhale, director of the Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology in Delhi, N. Venkat, who earlier worked as CEO of Emami and President of Shantha Biotechnics and Rajiv Mantri Executive Director, Navam Capital.
“This financing is a major landmark in Vyome’s journey to translate cutting edge science into differentiated products and innovative commercialization strategies, and gives the company substantial firepower to drive the completion of critical milestones of USFDA filings and Phase 1 & Phase 2 clinical research for some of its lead compounds and other development and commercialization efforts of its Rx and OTC pipeline,” N. Venkat, Co-Founder and CEO of Vyome said.
“Four years ago, Vyome set out to do what had never been done in India; that is to create innovation-based products for global markets out of India. Dermatology is one area that has not seen much innovation for over five decades but with the recent advances in science, significantly more effective solutions become possible. This financing is another important milestone in Vyome’s pioneering effort to deliver innovative solutions in dermatology” said Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar, Padma Vibhushan awardee and Chairman of Vyome.
Vyome is also developing a molecular replacement therapy for killing dandruff-causing fungus, new antibiotics that kill resistant acne-causing bacteria, and has developed a robust global patent portfolio. Vyome recently successfully completed clinical studies on VB001 and VB2421 for mild to moderate dandruff.
Sabre Partners, founded by a group of professionals led by Rajiv Maliwal, has invested over $300 million in India and one of their best known investments was in the restructuring of Centurion Bank, which they subsequently sold to HDFC Bank. Sabre also has an infrastructure fund and a healthcare focused venture capital fund called ‘Spring Healthcare’, through which this investment in Vyome was made and through which Sabre has built a high quality healthcare and life sciences portfolio over the past 4 years.
“We are delighted to partner with a world-class team that is applying science and critical understanding of unmet needs to develop unique platform technologies and products for the $20 billion global dermatology market” said Rajiv Maliwal, Founder and Managing Partner, Sabre Partners.
Sabre Partners was founded by a group of professionals led by Rajiv Maliwal, to build a high quality investment business by selectively seeking proprietary transactions in companies of various sizes, including start-ups, growth capital and buyouts. Till date they have invested over $300 million in India and one of their best known investments was in the restructuring of Centurion Bank, which they subsequently sold to HDFC Bank. They have since then raised an infrastructure fund as well as a healthcare fund called Spring Healthcare, which invests into healthcare companies in India. Apart from this investment in Vyome, Spring Healthcare had earlier invested into Oyster & Pearl Hospitals as well as SRL, India’s largest diagnostics company.
Kalaari Capital is a leading $160 million venture capital fund which provides early and mid- stage funding to new or growing businesses in India. Kalaari’s team comprises experienced entrepreneurs and executives who understand the model of incubating ideas and transforming them into successful enterprises. It is our privilege to fund entrepreneurial ideas and offer collaborative partnerships. We invest in tomorrow’s business leaders, explosive new markets and enterprises that will transform our future. We foster close partnerships with our portfolio companies, and build strong relationships based on integrity, trust and mutual respect.