Zoho invests ₹35 cr in Voxelgrids

NEW DELHI: Chennai-based tech firm Zoho on Tuesday said it has invested ₹35 crore in homegrown MRI tech startup Voxelgrids as part of its efforts to foster the development of deep technological capabilities and intellectual property (IP) in the country.

The investment will be made in two tranches and Zoho would hold about 25% share in the company.

Bengaluru-based Voxelgrids manufactures 1.5T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners that are lightweight, mobile, and easy to install, operate and maintain even in remote locations such as small villages. The equipment also includes a proprietary software package for imaging purposes. It has over 20 employees.

“One of the pressing concerns for the Indian economy today is the lack of indigenous industrial know-how and manufacturing capabilities. A healthy DeepTech ecosystem is vital to solving this issue and driving structural economic change,” Zoho co-founder and chief executive officer Corp Sridhar Vembu said.

Voxelgrids is one of the few companies that is working to solve this problem with MRI machines entirely built in India, he said.

“We need more such companies that can own and command this type of engineering knowhow across different sectors. At Zoho, through relentless R&D over the past 25 years, we understand that the DeepTech ecosystem needs to be similarly endorsed by the patient, longterm investments,” he said.

He added that Zoho, over the past many years, has invested about ₹250 crore across various companies over a number of years.

“This (investment) is supporting very critical R&D projects. Today, a lot of VC investment is going into essentially marketing expenses, for products that have already been created, products that are not extremely R&D intensive, but Zoho is supporting companies where the investment amount is smaller but very critical R&D projects with long term gestation period,” he explained.

Vembu added that the company offers “patient capital” and it will continue to engage with teams that are working on indigenous, innovative solutions.