Inception- 2016

Location- Bengaluru

Domain- Biotech (Therapeutics)

Founders- Dr Jogin Desai, Dr Rajani Battu, Dr Dhruv Sareen and Dr Rajarshi Pal

Total team strength- 9

Total funds raised- Rs 30.5 crore

Investors- Endiya partners, Kotak Private Equity and others

Revenue generated since inception- Pre-revenue stage

Key Highlights-

• Through its flagship product Eyecyte-RPE, the company replaces lost retinal pigment epithelium cells. It is designed to restore sight for patients in the early stages of Age-Related Macular Degeneration and arrest losses for those in the later stages
• Eyestem intends to be the benchmark for quality and affordability in cells therapies for targeted conditions and expects to capture 1/6th of the global market. 
• Have patents in India and the US for Eyecyte-RPE and Eyecyte-PRP products
• Have the necessary approvals from the Drugs Controller General of India to manufacture the product for clinical trials
• To start the first human trials for its product in the next 12 months for a blinding disease that affects 1.5 cr people in India
• To deploy at least three products for diseases deemed incurable in the world
• To invest in automating its production through a mix of hardware and software tools which can further increase scale and eventual affordability

Founder Speaks-

"Biotech investments in India are hard to come by through the VC community. Also, the ability to think of science in product development vs academic research is lacking.

I am very bullish about the growth of the biotech sector, which I firmly believe will do what the IT sector did for the Indian economy 20 years ago. Developed countries spend about 2.5 % of their GDP, while India has spent less than 1.5% of their GDP in the biotech sector. India needs to invest in science for the next 20 years at over 2.5 % of GDP. Indian Pharma companies should leverage this opportunity and invest in innovative startups which align with their core philosophy, as Biotech investments provide better returns than tech investments."

- Dr Jogin Desai, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Eyestem Research, Bengaluru