Tata Capital buys stakes in Tata Sky, Mitra Biotech

Tata Sky is a joint venture between Tata Group and News Corp-owned Star TV, which holds a 20% stake. Foreign ownership in domestic companies in the sector is restricted to 26%. Temasek Holdings bought a 10% stake in 2007 through Bay Tree Investments for INR2.5 billion ($56.48 million at the time).

Padmanabh Sinha, TOF's managing partner, was on the board of Tata Sky during his time as managing director for India at Temasek.

Apollo-backed Dish TV leads the DTH space with a 28% market share, and Tata Sky is second with a 19%, according to research firm Media Partners Asia.

A compulsory digitization of TV distribution began in India this year, causing firms to seek capital to upgrade systems and increase market reach.

The $600 million Tata Opportunities Fund closed earlier this year, and has already invested INR2.2 billion in Roots Corporation, which runs the budget Ginger Hotels chain.

Separately, Tata Capital Innovations Fund has invested an undisclosed amount in Mitra Biotech, which offers personalized cancer care through its proprietary patient segregation technology, called Oncoprint.

The technology determines the optimal drug combination for a patient, thereby reducing overall treatment cycle and avoiding toxicity that arises from non-optimal drugs.

The funding will help the company scale up its go to market strategy and to expand in India and globally by strengthening its business development, marketing and R&D teams. Mohan Harshey and Vineet Chadha, both partners at Tata Capital, will join the company to board.

Mitra previously raised $1.66 million in funding in 2010 from Accel Partners, IKP Investment Management and Karnataka Asset Management's Kitven Fund.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Healthcare
• Expansion
• Venture
• Tata Capital
• healthcare
• India
• Consumer
• Growth capital
• Venture