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Lifetree Convergence, a company that provides billing, messaging and business support software solutions to telecommunications carriers, plans to raise $60 million in private equity, reports Business Standard. The Delhi-headquartered company has the backing of Richard Siemens, the man who created the "Orange" brand for Hutchison Telecom, and Craig Erlich, Chairman of the global GSM Congress, who is also an early investor in the company. Lifetree, in addition to billing and messaging solutions, provides products such as web-based self care portals, an electronic bill presentment solution and an interconnect solution for telecom operators, mobile value added services such as content aggregation and distribution. The company's managing director is Atul Chopra, a former investment banker.

Artemis Health Services, the hospital chain promoted by the Apollo Tyres Group, is in talks with private equity funds to raise capital to the tune of Rs 100 crore, reports The Economic Times. The company has invested Rs 220 crore ($55 million) in its first hospital, a 500-bed super speciality hospital, in Gurgaon. The company has already taken on debt (1:1 ratio), and any capital infusion may be through equity route. It plans to set up about 15 hospitals across India by 2015, which will entail an investment of about Rs 1,000 crore. Artemis is also setting up a medicity in Baroda at an investment of Rs 500 crore and and a medical education hub in Haryana.

Cellworks Group Inc, a company headquartered in California with its R&D centre in Bangalore, is looking at raising venture capital next year. The company, which aims to shorten the time to successful drug discovery, reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve success rate of the pharma drug discovery process using systems biology route, is angel funded and was incorporated in 2005. Cellworks has recently set up its R&D centre in Bangalore - Cellworks Research India Limited (CRIL) - which would develop and provide technology based solutions that hasten drug discovery research and development. It can house about 110 scientists. Taher Abbasi is the CEO of the company. See more details here.