Premji has a winner in Moderna

BENGALURU: Wipro founder-chairman Azim Premji owns a minority stake in US biotech company Moderna, which is developing a vaccine that could potentially help tackle the Covid-19 virus outbreak, people familiar with the development said.

The undisclosed stake, which was picked up around two years ago for around $25 million, is part of the public portfolio investments of PremjiInvest, the investment arm of Premji, which manages over $3 billion in assets.

PremjiInvest, led by Wipro veteran T K Kurien, has a mix of investments in startups as well as public companies and is among the biggest family offices in India.


“It is part of portfolio allocation,” a person familiar with the investments said. PremjiInvest has made several investments in health care.

In February, it led a $126 million investment in Iora Health, a primary care provider network that is building a new electronic health records system.

In the past, it has invested in cancer care network HCG, Koye Pharmaceuticals and Zydus Wellness.

Premjiinvest and Moderna did not reply to emails seeking comment. Moderna’s shares jumped on Monday after it revealed that there had been ‘positive’ data from an early-stage human trial of its vaccine candidate.