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The San Francisco-based Burrill and Co. is raising a $150-200 million (Rs 591-788 crore) India fund, which is expected to be closed by the first quarter of 2008, reports Mint. The firm is now actively scouting for investment opportunities in India, and could make its first investment even before the Burrill-India fund closes, the paper reports quoting one of its India directors Tania Fernandez. In this case, the fund will invest from its global life science fund.
Burrill, which has invested in 70 firms so far, has close to $1 billion under management. The firm will invest as little as $2 million and as much as $10 million in any given Indian company, across different stages from early to mezzanine (mid-stage). Burrill also plans to syndicate deals in association with domestic investment partners in India.
Burrill is the second life sciences focused firm to show interest in India. MPM Capital, another US-based investment firm, also recently announced that it would start making investments in India in the next six months. The firm, which has $2.5 billion under management, had received investment from the Mukesh Ambani's-based Reliance Life Sciences.
The investment was in MPM's BioVentures IV fund, which has a corpus of $550 million.

Related:
Life Sciences Venture Capital Firm Burrill To Set Up An India-focused Fund
Burrill & Co Appoints Ganesh Kishore As MD For India, Malaysia
Life Sciences VC MPM Capital To Start Making Investments In Six Months