Biotech Startup CrisprBits Raises $3 Mn From Spectrum Impact, Others

Biotech startup CrisprBits has secured $3 Mn (INR 26.8 Cr) in a pre-Series A funding round led by Spectrum Impact, the family office of Aarti Industries chairman and managing director Rajendra Gogri.

The round also saw participation from the promoter family of HBL Engineering and C-CAMP (Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms), alongside existing investors Vijay Alreja Family Office (VJ Technologies Group) and CrisprBits founders Vijay Chandru, Sunil Arora, Rajeev Kohli, Bharat Jobanputra and Aditya Sarda.

The company plans to use the capital in commercialising its PathCrisp molecular diagnostics platform and augmenting the production capacity for high-impact tests in food safety, animal health and human health, including sickle cell, typhoid and anti-microbial resistance. 

Part of the funds will also go into the development of CRISPR-driven strain engineering platform, which will optimise the process of biofuel production to address unmet industrial sustainability needs. 

CRISPR indicates short, repetitive DNA sequences found in prokaryotes (certain bacteria and archaea) that play a key role in their immunity against viruses.

“This funding round provides the fuel for that mission and our team of pioneering CRISPR scientists and results-driven commercial leadership. We are now perfectly positioned to not just launch our products and services in India, but to immediately scale to global markets,” CrisprBits founder Chandru said.

Founded in 2020 by BITS Pilani engineers, CrisprBits is a biotechnology startup based in Bengaluru, developing high-quality and affordable solutions in CRISPR-based diagnostics and gene editing.

The startup has built three intelligent molecular platforms and solutions, including PathCrisp, which offers diagnostic solutions, EdiCrisp offering gene editing solutions, and CurieCrisp that helps as a disease modeling platform.

The startup revealed that CrisprBits plans to expand its CRISPR-based diagnostic products into global markets, including Africa and Latin America, over the next six months. It also plans to strengthen its operations by expanding infrastructure and production capabilities at its diagnostics manufacturing facility.

CrisprBits is set to build a proprietary AI-augmented strain engineering platform for sustainability solutions, including enhancing biofuel production.

Biotech startups are in the midst of massive growth in India, with the number of ventures spiralling from 50 to nearly 11,000 in over 10 years, junior science and technology minister Jitendra Singh said in an official press briefer in July. Singh emphasised that the government was committed to building a $300 Bn bioeconomy by 2030.