Press release
Chemveda Life Sciences chooses Dundee as home of European operations
International life sciences contract research organisation Chemveda Life Sciences has chosen the University of Dundee’s Life Sciences Innovation Hub to set up its European operations.
Published on 5 March 2026
Representatives of Chemveda, the University of Dundee, Dundee City Council and Scottish Development International at the Innovation Hub. Credit - University of Dundee
Chemveda is based in Hyderabad, India, and employs 600 people across its global sites, including offices in San Diego and Boston in the United States.
Dundee will become the company’s first European site when Chemveda moves in to state-of-the-art laboratory accommodation at the Life Sciences Innovation Hub in early April.
The move comes following approval of a £270,000 grant from Scottish Enterprise and ongoing support from the agency to attract the company to Scotland’s academic excellence and strong skills base.
It is anticipated that up to 50 high-value jobs will be created in Dundee following Chemveda’s decision to locate in the city with a strategy designed to scale up if all goes well. This marks a significant development in the global growth strategy of the company, with Dundee providing the ideal environment for Chemveda to reach new European customers as well as supporting their existing global customers. The company provides chemistry contract services to the pharmaceutical, biotech, academic, and agrochemical industries.
The move will see Chemveda establish a world-class integrated discovery platform serving the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, spanning small molecules, peptides, oligonucleotides, advanced modalities and process R&D.
This will allow them to play an even greater role in helping find solutions for the life sciences sector.
The Dundee expansion reinforces Chemveda’s commitment to innovation, global collaboration, and the continued growth of the sector in Scotland.
Chemveda founder and CEO Dr Bheema Rao Paraselli visited Dundee to sign the agreement to bring his company to the city and toured both the Life Sciences Innovation Hub and the University’s Faculty of Life Sciences.
Dr Paraselli said, “Establishing our Dundee facility represents a significant milestone in Chemveda’s global expansion strategy.
“Dundee’s dynamic life sciences ecosystem, strong academic partnerships, and exceptional scientific talent make it an ideal location for our next phase of growth. This expansion reinforces our commitment to delivering high-quality, integrated drug discovery solutions to innovators worldwide.
“We look forward to contributing to the region’s scientific community, creating science-driven employment, and building a centre of excellence that supports discovery, development, and early-phase manufacturing for our global partners.
“Dundee offers a compelling combination of world-class academic research, emerging biotech innovation, and access to highly skilled chemistry talent, enabling Chemveda to collaborate more closely with European partners and support programs from early discovery through development and scale-up, while reinforcing the company’s long-term commitment to advancing innovation and contributing meaningfully to Scotland’s growing life sciences ecosystem.”
Dundee has been the UK’s top ranked university for Biological Sciences in the past two Research Excellent Framework exercises. Over the past year, Dundee was also crowned the UK’s Outstanding Entrepreneurial University of the Year (Times Higher Education Awards) and Innovative & Entrepreneurial University of the Year (European Triple E Awards).
Chemveda is the first FDI (foreign direct investment) success for the hub and comes as a direct result of effective collaboration between the University of Dundee, Scottish Enterprise and colleagues in their overseas division Scottish Development International, and Dundee City Council.
The company joins a growing list of companies committing to the Life Sciences Innovation Hub, which opened last year and which is both attracting new companies to the city and providing vital space for high-growth spinouts emerging from the Scotland’s world-leading research.
Professor Lorraine van Blerk, Vice-Principal (Research and Innovation), said, “I am delighted to welcome Chemveda Life Sciences to our new Life Sciences Innovation Hub. The Scottish life science sector is at the forefront of life sciences innovation powered both by world-class research and entrepreneurial ambition. Contract research organisations play a key role in accelerating discovery and bringing new breakthroughs to clinical delivery, and we very much welcome Chemveda to the Dundee life sciences ecosystem.”
Scottish Enterprise was a key partner in the construction and fit out of the Life Sciences Innovation Hub, investing £8million in the facility and continuing to work closely with the University and Dundee City Council to support the growth of the commercial life sciences cluster in Dundee.
Scottish Enterprise’s Director of Scaling Innovation Nicola Anderson said, “Chemveda’s decision to establish its European operations in Dundee highlights Scotland’s strength as a globally connected life sciences nation.
“The Life Sciences Innovation Hub provides the high‑quality infrastructure, talent and collaborative environment that ambitious international companies need to scale. We are delighted to support Chemveda as it grows its presence here and contributes to the continued expansion of Dundee’s vibrant life sciences ecosystem.”
The Life Sciences Innovation Hub project was led by the University of Dundee’s Dr Morag Martin and Sir Mike Ferguson and was supported by a £20.2 million Scottish Government investment through the Tay Cities Region Deal as well as by Scottish Enterprise, the Wolfson Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, UK Government (through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund) and the University of Dundee.
About Scottish Enterprise
Scottish Enterprise (SE) is Scotland’s national economic development agency and a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It supports businesses to innovate and scale to transform the Scottish economy by focusing on new market opportunities through targeted investment, innovation and internationalisation. Follow us on LinkedIn.
About the Tay Cities Region Deal
The Tay Cities Region Deal is a partnership between local, Scottish and UK governments and the private, academic, and voluntary sectors which seeks to create a smarter and fairer Angus, Dundee, Fife and Perth & Kinross under the headings Inclusive Tay; Innovative Tay; International Tay; Connected Tay and An Empowered Tay.
The Scottish Government and UK Government will each invest up to £150 million in the Tay Cities Region Deal over 10 years, subject to final approval of robust business cases.
As of 30th September 2024, over £116m of Government investment has been released and just over 2,400 jobs have been created. This central investment from both Governments has the potential to lever in £400m of investment over 15 years, of which more than £180m has been secured by Projects.
Full and further information on the progress the Deal has made to date on securing investment and jobs, can be found within the Annual Performance Report located on the Tay Cities Region Deal website - https://www.taycities.co.uk/publications.
Press Office, University of Dundee
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