Avestha Gengraine Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Avesthagen) seeks to raise Euro 20 million in equity investment as its third round of financing or 'C Series' financing. The proceeds will be used for funding its expansion plans which includes setting up manufacturing facilities for its product pipelines and to ramp up sales and marketing including its global presence.

In addition, the company envisages to go in for an Initial Public Offer (IPO) within 18-24 months which would provide financial investors with a suitable exit strategy.

"The year ahead is challenging for Avesthagen to see its products entering the market," stated Dr. Villoo Morawala-Patell, Founder and CEO, Avesthagen.

The science & discovery driven life sciences company will also scale up its R&D centre. Right now its two labs are at the Discoverer and Innovator Block, International Tech Park (ITPL), Bangalore.

The company will commence construction of its corporate headquarters and R&D facility on its own two acres of land near ITPL at an investment of Rs.45 crore. These will include: A pilot scale manufacturing unit for mammalian bio therapeutics as part of the joint venture with Cipla. A pilot scale plant extraction facility for the Food for Medicine programmes with Nestlé and Avestha Nordic.

The company has been raising funds from private seed investors. In 2001, Euro 1.8 million was raised as equity investment from ICICI Ventures, Global Trust Bank (Oriental Bank of Commerce) and Tata Industries. In 2002-03, a bridge funding round of approx. Euros 1.0 million was raised from ICICI Ventures and OBC as a loan. In 2004, under the second round of equity funding Euro 4.5 million was raised from Godrej Industries, Cipla and bioMereiux. It also raised several grants/soft loan funds between 2003 and 2005 from NMITLI, USAID, SPREAD, amounting to approx. Euro 3.0 million for its R&D programmes.

Its business model which is a combination of Intellectual Property (IP) and product development for long term sustainable revenue generation together with R&D services and collaborative research programs with other parties allows to generate early revenue stream. This made Avesthagen register a turnover of Rs 19 crore (Euros 3.7 million) in March 2006. The revenues are expected to grow rapidly from licensing-out of technologies, product sales and royalties. The projected revenues during 2009 - 10are expected to reach nearly Rs.400 crore (Euros 68 million).

Avesthagen's growth strategy envisages both organic and inorganic growth, stated Manan Bhatt, Sr VP-International Relations & Corporate Communications, Avesthagen

The company has a portfolio of 91 patent applications, 15 of which are international patents under PCT, and two of the international patents have been granted.

Avesthagen at present has 200 Full Time Employees (FTEs), most of whom are engaged in the R&D, product development and collaborative research programs of the company. By 2006- end, the head count is expected to go up by another 50-70 employees.