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Venture Capital firm Eight Roads Venture India has announced its first dedicated healthtech and life sciences fund worth $250 Mn.

The VC firm claimed that the fund was among the largest for the sector in India, and has brought the total amount managed by Eight Roads in India to $1.6 Bn.

The company will use the fund to make minority investments in 15 to 20 life sciences, healthtech, consumer health and digital health startups at the early and growth stage. Eight Roads will look to cut smaller cheques as well as cheques as large as $40 Mn.

The VC firm already has a portfolio of 25 companies across healthtech and life sciences.

These investments include the likes of IPO-bound PharmEasy, Cipla Health, Caplin Steriles, Immuneel Therapeutics, Plasmagen Biosciences, Doceree and toothsi.

In all, Eight Roads has backed more than 60 companies across two main sectors of focus – healthtech and technology.

It was one of the most active investors in 2021, participating in 21 investment deals in 2021 alone.

Daniel Auerbach, senior managing partner and head of global ventures at Eight Roads Ventures said, “Eight Roads has backed innovative businesses in India since 2007. The launch of this healthtech fund reflects our confidence in the evolution of the Indian market and our commitment to helping ambitious founders scale.”

Dr Prem Pavoor, senior partner, head of India and healthcare investments at Eight Roads Ventures said, “Today is our day one, as we deepen our commitment to the healthtech sector in India. We have had the privilege of partnering with some of the best healthtech entrepreneurs in the country to build category-defining businesses.”

Eight Roads most recently participated in the $40 Mn in Series C funding round of dental tech startup toothsi. Before that, it had participated in the $11 Mn Series A funding round of healthtech startup Doceree.

TV Mohandas Pai, partner, Aarin Capital, had recently said that the next wave of unicorns will come from healthtech, deeptech and crypto, taking the total unicorns in India to 250 by 2025. 

“I think the big unicorns are going to come from the healthtech sector, deeptech, which includes artificial intelligence, robotics, etc., and from crypto. India’s exporting this deeptech crypto market to Dubai,” Pai said.