Unicorn India Ventures Partially Exits Sascan Meditech Securing 6x Returns

Despite the partial exit, UIV continues to hold a substantial stake in Sascan Meditech.

Unicorn India Ventures (UIV), a deep tech-focused fund house, has partially exited from neo-diagnostics startup Sascan Meditech, generating a 6x return on its initial investment.

UIV initially invested INR 2 Cr across two rounds, with the first investment made in 2020. The fund house is also currently raising its third fund of INR 1,000 Cr.

Founded in 2015 by Dr Subhash Narayanan, a laser scientist with a keen interest in biophotonics, Sascan Meditech is a healthcare innovation company based in Thiruvananthapuram.

The company's primary objective is to develop affordable healthcare products and solutions for cancer care using biophotonics and allied technologies.

Sascan aims to make these products available through sustainable business models, targeting the population at the base of the pyramid.

Dr Sushash Narayanan, founder & CEO, Sascan, says, "We have been fortunate that we had Unicorn India Ventures as an early investor and they believed in us and worked closely in the four-year journey of the company. I am happy to note that they will still carry on as an investor and with them and Time Medical, I am sure we will emerge stronger with an array of diagnostics products we have in mind."

Strategic Decision to Retain Stake

Despite the partial exit, UIV continues to hold a substantial stake in Sascan Meditech.

Unicorn India Ventures, founded in 2016 by Bhaskar Majumdar and Anil Joshi, is a technology-focused early-stage venture fund.

The fund has a strong track record of investing in emerging and visionary startups. UIV launched its first fund with a corpus of INR 100 Cr and invested in 17 companies, including SmartCoin, Open Bank, Sequretek, Pharmarack, Genrobotics, Clootrack, and FutureCure.

The fund has provided stellar exits to its LPs, with an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of over 60% year over year.

Sharing thoughts, Anil Joshi, managing partner, Unicorn India Ventures, says, "As a fund, we have continued to demonstrate our focus on backing deep tech business models, our thesis of going beyond the metros to find real innovative solutions with commercial acumen has built a strong track record for our fund."

Funding Roadmap

In 2020, UIV launched its second fund, an INR 300 Cr fund, which has invested in 20 companies so far, including Gamerji, ForeignAdmits, Probus, Daalchini, Esmito, and Finin. The portfolio companies are scaling up rapidly, with several experiencing multiple funding rounds.

Unicorn India Ventures recently announced the first close of its INR 1,000 Cr Fund III, reaching INR 225 Cr. With this fund, UIV aims to build a portfolio of 25 startups focused on global SaaS and digital platforms.

The fund explores new sectors such as climate tech, agritech, spacetech, and the semiconductor ecosystem. UIV has already made four investments from Fund III.