Comments
Chennai-based biotechnology start-up XCode Life Sciences is looking for venture capital funding of $4 million.
Currently Shead Holdings, a micro-venture capital fund from the US, and Mr R. Narayanan from Chennai Angels have invested $2,50,000 in the firm, which was initially incubated at the Vellore Institute of Technology.
The Chennai Angels network is backed by angel investors from Chennai, including Mr Lakshmi Narayanan of Cognizant and Mr Gopal Srinivasan of TVS Capital. The network mentors early stage ventures.
“We are funded for this financial year. We are talking to a few venture capital firms in India for additional funding for our expansion plans,” said Mr Manu S. Achuthan, COO, XCode.
XCode Life Sciences was set up in April by Dr Saleem Mohammed, who holds a PhD in bioinformatics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was earlier a scientist at the Monsanto Research Centre in Bangalore.
Mr R. Narayanan of Chennai Angels (also the past president of TiE) is a co-founder of XCode. The company has come out with a preventive wellness programme to fight diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases.
The programme aims to identify an individual’s predisposition to lifestyle disorders by doing a DNA analysis of his or her saliva sample.
Based on the assessment, a personalised nutrition and fitness plan is provided. The whole model works over email and phone. The package also includes a pocket guide and newsletters. Individuals can also store their vital clinical data such as blood pressure and lipid profile on the cloud.
The 90-day package is priced Rs 7,999.
The company currently has around 50 customers from Tamil Nadu. It is targeting 1 lakh customers in two years. XCode also plans to launch programmes for cancer and other diseases.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.