QRL Bioscience has raised ₹3 crore in its latest funding round from GVFL, a venture capital firm based in India. The capital will support clinical and preclinical work on the company’s regenerative therapies for diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) and osteoarthritis.
Founded by Dr Senthilkumar Natesan, Mr. Sanjoy Bhagat, and Dr Kranti Vora, QRL Bioscience is focused on personalised, cell-based therapies for chronic degenerative diseases. Dr Natesan is a virologist with expertise in HIV, immunology, and cell therapy. Mr. Bhagat is a business leader with more than 20 years of experience and holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. Dr Vora holds a Master’s in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park.
The company was launched with the initial aim of addressing diabetic foot ulcers and osteoarthritis. The current funding will be used to accelerate the clinical trial phase of its DFU therapy and advance the preclinical development of its osteoarthritis treatment.
Mr. Mihir Joshi, Managing Director of GVFL, said, “QRL Bioscience is a perfect example of the innovation and scientific rigour that GVFL is committed to supporting. Its living-cell based therapeutic platform has immense potential to address significant unmet medical needs, both in India and globally. We are excited to partner with QRL as it leads the way in pioneering personalised regenerative medicine.”
This funding round follows a seed investment previously raised from TiE India Angel investors. QRL Bioscience plans to deploy the new capital over the next 22 months. A majority of the funds will be used for the DFU clinical trial, while the remaining amount will support formulation development and regulatory preparations for the osteoarthritis therapy.
Dr Senthil Natesan, co-founder of QRL Bioscience, said, “We are building an Indian company with a global vision by creating truly novel solutions to improve human health worldwide. Our pioneering personalised medicine using living cell-based therapies will address long-standing health challenges. This funding will bring our DFU product closer to market readiness and advance our osteoarthritis therapy to its next major milestone. We are grateful for the confidence GVFL has placed in us and look forward to welcoming additional strategic partners in this round.”
Since its last funding round, the company has initiated clinical groundwork for its DFU therapy and achieved key research milestones for its osteoarthritis treatment. It has also engaged with medical professionals, identified distribution channels, and built out its supply chain to support future market readiness.
QRL Bioscience is currently exploring co-development and co-marketing partnerships in the orthopaedic sector as part of its commercial strategy.