WestBridge completes 1st round funding for Strand Genomics
Thursday, 19 September 2002, 19:30 IST
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BANGALORE: WestBridge Capital Partners, a leading US-India Venture Capital firm with $140 million under management, on Thursday announced that they have completed the first round of funding for Strand Genomics as lead investors. Strand is a Bangalore-based life sciences informatics company committed to developing innovative products in the area of in silico biology. Sumir Chadha, senior managing director of WestBridge Capital Partners will join the Board at Strand Genomics. Other investors include UTI Ventures and angel investors. The consolidated first round of investment in Strand is $ 4.6 million. Strand's business model is a combination of high-end proprietary products and informatics services which address productivity bottlenecks in drug discovery & development and diagnostic research. Strand Genomics was founded by a group of computer scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore. It is the country's first venture funded company being spun out of a research university, and is widely regarded for its world-class computational capabilities in the field of life sciences and health care. Strand's vision is to accelerate the drug discovery and development process by developing a suite of products, "Oyster". "Strand has created valuable Intellectual Property in a short span of time and this we believe is going to be a critical factor for success in the global market. WestBridge will help Strand leverage the international financial markets in the long run", said Strand's chairman and chief scientific officer, Dr. Vijay Chandru.
Source: IANS
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