Implant maker SynThera raises seed funds

Implant maker SynThera Biomedical Pvt. Ltd has raised an undisclosed amount from equity crowd-funding platform 1Crowd and the government’s Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council SEED Fund via Venture Center, which incubated the startup.

The seed investment will help the company expand and launch its first line of products in the market, said Nilay Lakhkar, founder and chief executive of SynThera.

The company’s flagship products -- SynOst and PoroSyn -- are used in dental and orthopaedic surgeries as implants for repair and regeneration of bone.

The funding will also help the company further develop and test its patented bone-graft product line, Lakhkar added.

SynThera was founded in 2015. Before starting the company, Lakhkar was a postdoctoral researcher at Germany-based Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht Zentrum für Material- und Küstenforschung GmbH, according to his LinkedIn profile.

India-specific data on the bone grafts and substitutes market is not available but the global size was pegged at $2.4 billion in 2016, according to a research report by Grand View Research. The report also said that the market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 5.5%. Developing economies such as India and China are expected to contribute to market growth in the Asia-Pacific region, it had added.

Venture capital firms have been investing in medical products makers such as Accel-backed Consure Medical Pvt Ltd, whose flagship product is used for the management of faecal incontinence in bed-ridden patients; and IDG Ventures India-backed Forus Health Pvt. Ltd, which makes ophthalmic imaging devices.

Investors

1Crowd, which was launched in 2015, is an equity crowdfunding platform. It has invested in over 15 firms such as realty-tech startup Zipgrid, community building platform Fourth Ambit, and advertising-technology startup Proximit Media India.

Early this year, 1Crowd marked the first close of raising money for its debut angel fund at Rs 23 crore ($3.5 million).

The fund is designed to co-invest with the equity crowdfunding platform.

1Crowd’s recent investment was in Smoodies, which makes fruit and vegetable smoothies. Thirty per cent of the investment in Smoodies was by the fund and the rest 70% by the crowdfunding platform. After the second close of raising money, the fund will account for 50% of the investment in Smoodies, Anup Kuruvilla, co-founder of 1Crowd, had said.

The other investor in SynThera, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council SEED (Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development) Fund, was set up by the department of biotechnology under the ministry of science and technology. The fund, which gives up to Rs 30 lakh each to startups, invested in the firm through incubator Venture Centre.