Indian software firm Persistent Systems has used its venture capital fund to invest in hospital hygiene startup Hyginex to expand into new markets, according to The Economic Times. The exact amount of the investment was not disclosed in the said report.

Persistent founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anand Deshpande said: "It is like a lottery ticket. It is a calculated risk. Why shouldn't one do it? For a company like us, you are sitting on $100 million (INR608 crore) cash on balance sheet and here we are investing few hundred thousand dollars. It is a very low risk."

The flagship product of California-based Hyginex is a wristband that alerts hospital staff when they need to wash their hands. The bracelet has sensors that track the quality and duration of a hand sanitizing act. The data are collected and uploaded to a server where all the staff members are monitored, the report explained.

Hyginex was first established in Israel in 2008 by Efrat Raichman, whose uncle died after acquiring an infection from the hospital. She founded the company to address the problem of improper hand sanitation that could lead to hospital-acquired infections, The Economic Times reported.