India Business Excellence Fund – IV, a fund managed and advised by MO Alternate Investment Advisors has agreed to make a primary investment of up to Rs 194.4 crore (USD 25 million) in Pathkind Diagnostics, a pathology focused diagnostics services chain with operations across 23 states in India.

Established in 2016, Pathkind is one of the fastest-growing diagnostics services chains in India. It is promoted by Sanjeev Vashishta and the promoters of Mankind Pharma. Pathkind operates in the pathology/ wellness segment and offers a portfolio of 4,000+ tests across all the segments including Biochemistry, Hematology, Serology, Histopathology, Molecular Biology, Cytogenetics etc., carrying out all kinds of routine, specialized and esoteric tests under one roof. Within a short span of less than 5 years, it has built a wide network of over 75+ labs (of which 13 are NABL accredited / certified), 2,000 exclusive collection centres and over 5,000 B2B clients, across 23 states in India.

Vishal Tulsyan, MD and CEO of MOPE said, “We believe that the diagnostics industry in India is poised to grow to US $ 30 billion over the next 8-10 years, driven primarily by increasing penetration and shift towards organized diagnostics chains. Pathkind, with its focus on providing quality testing, widespread network, extensive doctor coverage, strong management team & parentage and with our investment, is well poised to be a leading diagnostics franchise in India.

This is our second investment in the diagnostics industry, the first one being in a leading medical equipment company, which is decentralizing access to quality diagnostics. With our investment in Pathkind, we are further augmenting access to quality diagnostic testing infrastructure across India.”

Sanjeev Vashishta, Promoter, MD and CEO, Pathkind Diagnostics said, “We are delighted to have MOPE as our partners. Both the organization share a common vision and value system to make superior quality diagnostics services accessible to the masses at an affordable price. Setting up labs run by qualified MD Pathologist doctors, skilled technicians and scientists in every nook and corner of the country using state of the art technology and automated platforms, such that the patients don’t have to travel long distances for their diagnostics requirements, is our top priority. Early diagnosis can save lives and money to the exchequer and for that reason, we are committed to providing reports to our worthy doctors and patients within the quickest possible time. The funding will be utilized judiciously to further build on the diagnostics capabilities and capacities, educating the masses about the virtues of early diagnosis and to augment our services using digitization, AI, ML tools apart from other things.”

Eklavya Juneja, Director & Promoter, Pathkind Diagnostics said, “This primary investment coming in Pathkind will be utilized to develop our IT infrastructure further, digital marketing and expansion into southern India making us a Pan-India player within 6 months. At Pathkind, our belief is that ‘people create organizations’ and with a focus on that we will be extensively utilizing these funds on people development, upgrading our processes and introducing unique tests to the market.”

Khaitan & Co, Wadia Ghandy & Co, and Ray Legal were the legal advisors to the transaction.