Exclusive: Hero’s Sunil Munjal Invests $4.8 Mn In Healthtech Startup Pandorum Technologies

Bengaluru-based healthtech startup Pandorum Technologies has bagged INR 36 Cr ($4.8 Mn) from Indian business tycoon and chairman of Hero Motorcorp Sunil Kant Munjal.

As per the regulatory filings accessed by Inc42, the startup has allotted 23,891 Pre-Series B(1) CCPS and 100 equity shares to Munjal for the said amount. 

The investment comes almost a year after Inc42 had reported that Pandorum was raising INR 41.25 Cr from BTB Ventures, Capital Trust, IAN Fund, Kotak Investment and Karnataka’s Trustee Company by allotting 27,590 Pre-Series B CCPS. 

Founded in 2011 by Arun Chandru and Tuhin Bhowmick, Pandorum Technologies is a biotechnology startup that focuses on tissue technology and regenerative medicine. 

It claims that its proprietary technology platform is designed to develop functional human tissues, such as bio-engineered cornea and liver, intended for medical research and therapeutic applications. 

The startup is further expanding an arm in the area of cell-free therapies for tissue repair and regeneration. The startup is also developing a cell-free, safe treatment to cure lungs post contracting Covid-19 virus. 

In 2018, the startup bagged $3.6 Mn in a Series A round from Indian Angel Network, Binny Bansal’s 021 Capital and Karnataka Information Technology Venture Capital Fund, and Sunil Munjal.  

Pandorum Technologies has collaborated with the Medical University of South Carolina and Dr Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital over the years for various projects. 

Munjal is also an investor in IPO-bound fashion ecommerce platform Nykaa, hospitality unicorn OYO, Aavishkaar Fund, among others. 

Pandorum competes against the likes of other Indian biotech startups such as Xcode Life Sciences, Oncostem Diagnostics, MedGenomes, MapMyGenome among others. Among these startups, Oncostem Diagnostics which focuses on oncology seems to have received a bigger cheque worth $9 Mn from Sequoia Capital and Artiman Ventures. Xcode Life Sciences had last raised an investment worth $250K from Shead Holdings and Chennai Angels. 

As per an IBEF report, the Indian biotechnology industry is anticipated to grow at 16.4% CAGR and reach US$ 150 Bn by 2025. By 2025, the contribution of the Indian biotechnology industry in the global biotechnology market is expected to grow to 19% from 3% in 2017.

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