Indian biomedical startup Elucidata raises $5m in pre-series A money

Indian biomedical firm Elucidata said it has secured US$5 million in a pre-series A round led by local VC firm IvyCap Ventures.

The fundraise also saw participation from Hyperplane Venture Capital and several angel backers, according to a statement.

Photo credit: Michal Jarmoluk

Elucidata was founded in 2016 by University of Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate Abhishek Jha, IIT Delhi graduate Swetabh Pathak, and Yale School of Medicine graduate Richard Kibbey. It operates a proprietary cloud platform, Polly, that houses a large repository of biomedical data for drug discovery and development.

The company claims that with its platform, scientists can get access to curated data from over 100,000 biomedical datasets, a number that is doubling each quarter.

Elucidata said it plans to use the new funds to speed up product development, bolster its marketing efforts, strengthen its team in India, and expand its US operations.

“Having already demonstrated clear product-market fit and grown a strong base of top-tier pharmaceutical and biotech customers, this new infusion of capital positions the company for accelerated market growth in the years to come,” said Hyperplane managing partner Naimish Patel.

According to the statement, Elucidata has attracted over 30 partners in the industry as its clients since launching Polly in 2019. In the past seven months, the company claims it saw increased demand and expanding adoption among enterprise clients such as Genentech, TRV, Alnylam Therapeutics, and Agios.