HCG Founder Dr. Ajaikumar Launches Inviga Healthcare Private Equity Fund
Dr. B.S. Ajaikumar, doctorpreneur, founder, and executive chairman of HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd. (HCG), has announced the launch of the Inviga Healthcare Fund (IHF), a thematic healthcare-focused private equity fund headquartered in Bengaluru.
Co-founded by Ajay Garg, Founder and Managing Director of Equirus Capital, IHF intends to revolutionise the Indian healthcare landscape by enhancing accessibility, affordability, and quality of healthcare for all sections of society. The fund secured an initial close of $20 million.
Dr. Ajaikumar, Founder, Inviga Healthcare Fund, and Executive Chairman of HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd. (HCG), said, "In my over 35 years as a doctor-entrepreneur in India, I have witnessed first-hand both the strengths and weaknesses of our healthcare system. Inviga Health Fund is my response, which embodies my desire to provide high-quality, egalitarian healthcare to all sections of society while supporting and positioning doctors and healthcare entrepreneurs as primary drivers in the business."
Ajay Garg, Co-Founder, Inviga Healthcare Fund, said, "A doctor-driven thematic healthcare and life sciences fund in India is a rarity. This gives us a unique vantage point that helps transcend critical technical barriers that otherwise typically exist between healthcare entrepreneurs and their financiers...."
In its maiden investment, the Bengaluru-based Inviga Healthcare Fund has announced support for Mynvax, a biotech start-up focused on developing novel recombinant vaccines for human respiratory viral diseases, including seasonal influenza and COVID-19.
Mynvax was co-founded by Prof. Raghavan Varadarajan and Dr. Gautham Nadig, professors and alumni, respectively, of the Molecular Biophysics Unit at the Indian Institute of Science. The company was incubated at the FSID, IISc, Bengaluru, and aims to revolutionise vaccine development by creating a platform that promises affordable and facile manufacturing, higher effectiveness, a broader spectrum of coverage than existing vaccines, and simplified distribution.
Rakshith Rangarajan, Fund Manager at Inviga Healthcare Fund, said, "The current options globally are riddled with technological inadequacies that have substantially rendered the flu vaccine a seasonal friend with limited scalability, making it accessible primarily to the affluent, unless subsidized. The innovations at Mynvax, led by its highly qualified team, have indeed made tangible the prospect of an improved flu shot that can finally find its way into the hands of the less privileged in India and across the globe."
