Over the years, boutique investment banking firms have been essential in the conceptualization and execution of most of India’s small and large fundraising and M&A deals, particularly in the area of devising structured transactions well suited to the customer objectives.
BIORx Venture Advisors Pvt Ltd (BVA) is a decade old boutique Investment Banking firm dedicated to offering highly specialised financial and strategic advisory services. It has a track record of closing more than 100 successful transactions in support of investment growth opportunities such as Fundraising, M&A, Capital Syndication, Private Equity Placement, Structured Finance & Technology Transfer.
BIORx has an extensive network of domestic and institutional bankers, financial institutions, hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, and international institutions. Seventy per cent of the firm’s revenue comes from referrals from current clients.
BVA’s Industry Expertise includes:
– Biotechnology
– Clinical Research Organizations
– Digital Healthcare
-Healthcare Organizations:
- Corporate Chains
- Clinics
- Hospital
- Nursing Home
– Medical Devices and Equipment
– Pharmaceuticals
– EdTech
– AgriTech
– CleanTech
The Founder and CEO
Dr. Vishal Gandhi is the founder and CEO, BIORx Venture Advisors Pvt. Ltd. He is also Chief Ideator, Indian Healthcare Angels (IHA). He comes with over 22 years of deal-making expertise in the areas of investments, mergers and acquisitions, and due-diligence in healthcare and associated industries (Ed-tech and Agri Sector). He is recognized as one of the top 20 healthcare focussed investment bankers in India. He is a life-time member of All India Management Association (AIMA), New Delhi-an apex body of the management professional in India.
Dr. Gandhi has assisted approximately 100 private enterprises, a few publicly traded companies, and 12 foreign multinational corporations in their breakthrough into India. He now works on venture formation, scaling up, and mentoring investable business ideas in a variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, contract research, medical devices, digital healthcare, hospitals (both super and single specialty), agritech, and educational technology. Given his outstanding expertise of the healthcare sector, he has been frequently quoted in business journals such as Economic Times, Biospectrum, VOH and Medgate Today.
Dr. Gandhi has held senior executive roles at YES Bank, Ranbaxy Research Laboratories, and Oncquest before joining BIORx (as an Intrapreneur, he started the venture with Dabur’s support which is now a significant player in the niche molecular diagnostics services for cancer).
Dr. Gandhi has a Ph.D. in Strategy and Technology Management from AMU’s Department of Business Administration, as well as a Post Graduate Management Degree from XLRI, Jamshedpur, and a Master’s Degree in Biotechnology from the University of Hyderabad. He has also completed Columbia Business School’s Executive Program in Digital Healthcare Investing.
Dr. Gandhi is a member of the FICCI, CII, Assocham, and PHDCCI task teams, among others. He has also been mentoring start-ups at the CIIE of IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Delhi for a decade and is now actively associated with many life science-focused incubators. He also has niche experience in policy advocacy, having contributed to the first-ever National Biotech Strategy Document published by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India through FICCI in 2005.
According to Dr Gandhi, “Several healthcare entrepreneurs set out to have an influence in society,” and “a key consideration for us when we work with entrepreneurs is the amount of social impact they can produce”. His goal is to enable entrepreneurs to create a wider impact with access to capital and support them with strategic inputs. He asserts, “We take pride in our portfolio companies and the number of lives they have touched; we seek partnership with more such entrepreneurs. That’s what keeps us going.”
Mr. Kumar Gaurav is the Chief Operating Officer of BIORx Venture Advisors Pvt. Ltd. Gaurav came on-board in early 2021. He came in with a rich experience of 7 years in Public Sector Banking where he took care of Credit Life-Cycle and Relationship Management of SME’s, having evaluated the business models and carried out complete Due-Diligence of over 500 SMEs. Post his banking stint he went ahead for an International MBA with a Majors in Finance from one the World’s top B Schools I.E Business School Madrid, Spain.
Ms. Pritika Kalra is Director, HR and PR Practise. After completing Master’s in Arts from the Hindu College, University of Delhi, Pritika went on to complete a communications diploma from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, New Delhi. She has a long 10-year association with BIORx as one of its Founding Members. Prior to that she worked for over a decade in Media, Marketing Communication and Human Capital Management in The Energy and Resources Institute [TERI], New Delhi as well as India Infrastructure Publishing, New Delhi. Pritika converges various modes of communication to connect to people—some of them being use of Music and Indian Dance!
Mr. Hryshikesh Dihingia is the Vice President of BIORx Venture Advisors Pvt. Ltd. Hryshi has been associated with BIORx since March 2022 and has joined the Leadership Team responsible for Strategy, Planning & Execution. He is also heading the International Corporate Relations of the Organisation. Prior to this, Hryshi has worked with S&P Global Market Intelligence for about 8 years. He has a rich experience of managing cross functional projects and stakeholders including Clients, Vendors, Internal Data & Research Teams, Technology and Product Teams. Hryshi has a B. Com (Honours) degree from Delhi University and an MBA degree in Finance from NIIT University.
The Vision Ahead
BIORx Venture Advisors (BVA) has assisted SMEs and mid-corporates in raising capital (equity and debt through M&A) in excess of INR 1000 crore.
According to Dr Gandhi, BVA has been a preferred partner in Financial & Strategic Advisory to initiatives in Healthcare, Cleantech, Biotech, Agritech, and Edtech over the past ten years. Dr. Gandhi studied the performance indicators of technology business incubators in India for his doctoral thesis. He shares his analysis: “Seeing the current scenario amidst COVID, we realised the need to foster a wider range of audience to leverage technology,” he says. This led to our inspiration to structure a Tech-Platform to connect all stakeholders to accelerate their journey from idea to investment to create the highest impact”.
By 2030, Kumar Gaurav shares his vision, to establish a world-class impact-focused business accelerator that will work with all stakeholders to achieve sustainability. BioRx Venture Advisors’ objective is to facilitate long-term growth through increasing shareholder value by developing complete, tailored solutions to its clients’ financial and business development concerns, and to become India’s most valued financial and strategic partner.
The TimeLine
2012: BIORx Venture Advisors Pvt. Ltd. (brainchild of Dr Vishal Gandhi) gets incorporated.
2014: BIOAccelerate was conceptualised with the support of IIT Delhi and the National Institute of Immunology and supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.
2018: Dr Gandhi, the Founder, BVA, Awarded ‘Most Impactful Healthcare Leaders’ by World & Wellness Congress
2018: Indian Healthcare Angels (IHA) was initiated to increase our commitment towards the start-up ecosystem, helping them with fundraising and increasing awareness in healthcare, pharma, life sciences, and other allied sectors.
2019: Awarded ‘Leading Financial Services Provider for Life Sciences in India’ by AI Global Media Ltd, UK
2020: During COVID, BIORx introduced Bio Strategic Leadership Alliance (BSLA), which is a brand of BIORx Venture Advisors Pvt. Ltd. committed to providing thought leadership in the healthcare, pharma, life sciences, and other allied sectors.
2021: Kumar Gaurav joins leadership team of BIORx Venture Advisors Pvt. Ltd.
2021: Dr Gandhi was featured amongst ‘Top 50 Torch Bearers of Healthcare’ by Medgate Today Magazine.
2021: BIORx finds success in other sectors of Social Impact such as Education & AgriTech.
2022: IHA closes first deal in Mental Health & Wellnes.
2022: Hryshikesh Dihingia joins the Leadership Team with the core responsibility of Strategy & Corporate Development.
2022: BIORx initiates Tech-Platform i3x as a first step towards a tech enabled impact focussed Business Accelerator.
