Stelis Biopharma, an India-based drug and vaccine developer spun off by pharmaceutical firm Strides Pharma Science, announced in a stock exchange filing today it has secured $195m across series B and C rounds.
Private equity firm TPG Growth joined returning investors Route One, Think Investments and the Mankekar Family to co-lead the $125m series C round, which included a primary transaction of $85m and a $40m secondary share sale by existing shareholder GMS. It valued Stelis at $350m post-money.
The $70m series B round valued Stelis at $155m pre-money and consisted of a $56m commitment from the family office of Strides’ promoters, of which $15m will be invested right away, while Strides itself is supplying the remaining $14m.
Strides had provided $15m for the $35m first close of the series B round in 2018 for Stelis, participating alongside unnamed, existing backers. It will own a 33% stake post-transaction.
Founded in 2013 as a contract development and manufacturing services subsidiary of Strides, Stelis manufactures protein and peptide-based therapeutics for the treatment of bone diseases such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, in addition to insulin analogue therapies.
The company agreed a deal this week to produce 200 million doses of Sputnik V, the Russia-made covid-19 vaccine that is awaiting regulatory clearance in India.
Stelis said in a statement: “With the current capital raise, Stelis is now well-positioned to pursue its growth initiatives and scale its business model to deliver promising returns in the coming years.”
Strides had agreed in 2014 to sell a 25.1% stake in Stelis to GMS for $21.9m, and the two, along with Tenshi Life Sciences, a company formed by Strides’ promoters, remain the largest shareholders in Stelis.
