Seeds of innocence to add 20 IVF and fertility centres by FY22
The Seeds of Innocence chain of fertility and IVF centres expects to add 20 such centres nationwide by the end of 2021-22 and is also planning an international foray during the period, a senior company official said. The enterprise has fertility centres in eight states and 10 IVFs. 
“The plan is to have 30 centres in India by the end of the fiscal year 2021-22,” said Gauri Agarwal, founder of Seeds of Innocence and Genestrings.
This month, Seeds of Innocence (SOI) will open IVF centres in Guwahati, Assam and Haldwani, Uttarakhand, and the Guwahati centre will also be the company’s first company in the east of the country, he added.
The new centres will be installed in locations like Lucknow, Kanpur, Kolkata and Srinagar, among others, Agarwal said. On the company’s international foray, he said SOI will open the IVF laboratory and clinic in Muscat, Oman at the end of September this year.
Final agreements to open the IVF laboratory and clinic in Abuja, Nigeria in December was also signed. Talks are also underway to open an infertility and surrogacy centre in Colombia in the fourth quarter.
When asked about the investment SOI will make in the expansion, Agarwal said, “A typical CAPEX for a new IVF centre is between 2 to 2.5 crore with another 1 to 1.5 crore for the original one Brand and other fixed operating costs (OPEX) are reserved. Internationally, costs are increasing by almost 75 per cent due to taxes and labour and more expensive equipment”.
In terms of growth plans, he said SOI has so far been fully increased and the expansion has been funded by profits from existing units.
“However, we may seek to raise funds from a strategic partner to drive growth and explore the possibilities of M&A. This could be the right time as the industry will consolidate in the face of the pandemic situation, ”added Agarwal.
About the company, he said that a key differentiator of the SOI offering is that it not only looks at IVF treatment in silos but offers a multidisciplinary approach to treatment and wellbeing.
“This makes us the first IVF centre in the country to have its own genetic testing laboratory, which not only improves overall success rates but is also a blessing for couples with any of the 400 hereditary diseases such as thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia,” added Agarwal.
