Rivaara Labs raises its first round of equity capital from Amicus Capital and Kotak Investment Advisors

• The founder of the company, Bharat Daftary, also participated in the round, the company said in a statement.
  
• It plans to use the proceeds to accelerate the development and commercialisation of proprietary test kits, upgrade manufacturing facilities, expand its lab network, and scale up talent.
  
• Founded in 2019, the company has developed PCR-based test kits in collaboration with European research labs.

Rivaara Labs, a testing services and research and development-focused molecular diagnostics company, on Monday said that it had raised its first institutional round of equity led by Amicus Capital and Kotak Investment Advisors Limited.

The founder of the company, Bharat Daftary, also participated in the round, the company said in a statement.

Rivaara plans to use the proceeds to accelerate the development and commercialisation of proprietary test kits, upgrade the manufacturing facilities, expand its lab network, and scale up the scientific sales force as well as technical talent across the country. Rivaara has plans to expand its network from 12 labs to around 60 labs across India.

“The vision for Rivaara is to positively impact patient care by addressing gaps in widespread adoption of molecular diagnostics through a scientific sales force to create the right awareness, presence of local labs for faster processing of samples and international quality kits at affordable prices,” said Daftary, founder of Rivaara Labs.

Founded in 2019 by Daftary, the erstwhile promoter of Bharat Serums & Vaccines Limited, Rivaara has developed PCR-based test kits in collaboration with European research labs, which are specifically developed for detecting pathogens prevalent and effective treatments to save lives.

“Advances in molecular diagnostics over the last few years have opened up possibilities for faster and more accurate ways to detect pathogens at affordable price points. Adoption of some of these advances such as RT-PCR tests was witnessed during response to Covid-19 pandemic,” Dhiraj Rajendran, executive director, Kotak Investment Advisors Limited said.

The company claims that its diagnostic tests will also reduce the misuse of antibiotics, which has led to the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant strains. It will also roll out tests for respiratory diseases, sepsis, TB, antimicrobial resistance through its own lab network. The kits will be made available to other diagnostic laboratories, Rivaara said. The company also has plans to tap international markets.

It also offers point-of-care products for patented novel biomarkers and manufactures reagents and enzymes with application in molecular biology and proteomic research. Proteome is a set of proteins produced in an organism.

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