Dr Reddy’s to move beyond drugs with VC arm

 04-Sep-15, Live Mint 

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd’s new venture capital arm is considering 20 business proposals, including a chain of dental clinics and health-diagnostic laboratories and is likely to back one or two as part of a plan to transform India’s second-largest drug maker into a broader health-focused company.

Image: Mint

“We haven’t invested anywhere, we are setting up the processes now,” said G.V. Prasad, co-chairman and chief executive of officer of Dr. Reddy’s, without giving details of the corpus allocated for the fund or the name of the start-ups that the company is evaluating. “I don’t think money is a concern for us.”

Hyderabad-based Dr. Reddy’s is evaluating investments in new technologies that offer medical diagnostics and services to help patients, and also complement the firm’s larger strategy of transforming itself into a broader health-focused entity. Smaller rival Cipla Ltd was the first Indian drug maker to set up a fund in 2013 to incubate start-ups.

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