MUMBAI: Indegene Lifesystems, a healthcare IT firm backed by Infosys co-founder NS Raghavan, is looking to raise money from private equity investors and has appointed investment bank Credit Suisse to look for investors.
The company that has $75 million in the top line is being valued at about $400 million, said three people with direct knowledge of the development. “The company is looking to sell up to 25% stake to private equity investors,” said a person familiar with the matter. “If the value offered by the incoming investors is good, existing investors could sell part of their stake.”
A spokesperson for Indegene Lifesystems in a telephonic interaction said, “We neither confirm nor deny the fundraising plans of the company.”
Bengaluru-headquartered Indegene was co-founded by Manish Gupta, an IIT-BHU and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus who worked in Infosys up to 1998. The company helps US-based life sciences companies through its analytics, technology, operations and medical expertise (ATOM). Today, the company has around 1,400 employees and offices in Montreal, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Shanghai, Zurich, and Bengaluru.
In 2002, KITVEN Fund had invested in the company. The company that started off by catering to the domestic market changed its strategy in 2004 and started focusing on the overseas market. In 2005, Infosys co-founder NS Raghavan’s Nadathur Holdings bought out KITVEN Fund’s stake in the company.
For the past 15 years, that the company has been in existence, it has grown both organically and inorganically.
The management has taken a string of pearls approach towards its acquisition strategy. “The company is looking at raising capital to build a war chest for its acquisition strategy,” said another person with direct knowledge of the company’s plans. “It will raise about $75-100 million from PE investors.”
It is targeting $250 million in revenue by 2020, Manish Gupta had told ET in an April 2016 interview. The company, with a topline of around $75-80 million, is being valued at around $400 million, these people said. “The company had plans for an overseas listing. However, due to the muted markets they are now in talks with PE investors to raise money by selling the primary stake,” the third person said.
This year, the company bought Canada’s Skura Technologies for $9 million (about Rs 60 crore) to expand its technology offerings to life sciences and pharmaceutical companies. Last year in December, the company acquired SmartCare for $6-8 million, a health analytics platform, from Connecticut-based Vantage Point. Before that, in January 2014, it had acquired Atlanta-based quality improvement, outcome research and clinical engagement services company Total Therapeutic Management (TTM), Inc. In 2012, it acquired Canada-based multi-channel and physician marketing company Aptillon Holdings Inc for $4 million.
