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Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) National Bio Entrepreneurship Competition had 11 bio entrepreneurs in categories as diverse as water and sanitation and maternal and child health to digital health, medical devices and agri-biotechnology being declared winners. A total Rs. 3 crore in cash prizes and investment opportunities with an exclusive scope for mentorship from key industry leaders were awarded.
The platform showcased high impact, deep tech business ideas in the life sciences and biotech domain after four months of intense competition. The NBEC 2019, the third in its series, was conducted by the C CAMP under the BIRAC Regional Entrepreneurship Centre (BREC).
Divanshu, Alcheme, won the WIN Foundation cash prize of Rs. 7.5 lakh as well as their investment opportunity of Rs. 30 lakh in water and sanitation category. Mayur Shetty, Blackfrog Technologies received the WIN Foundation cash prize of Rs. 7.5 lakh and also the WIN Foundation investment opportunity of Rs. 30 lakh in maternal and child health category. Further Blackfrog bagged the Social Alpha investment opportunity of US$ 100,000 too for social impact.
Ragul Paramasivam, Chimertech Innovations LLP, won the Ankur Seeds award of Rs. 5 lakhs in agri-biotechnology category as well as the ID capital investment opportunity of US$ 100,000 as top agri-biotechnology, food and nutraceuticals entrepreneur. Shomeshwar Singh, 4S Medical Research was awarded the Digital Health cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh sponsored by HealthVenture, USA.
Prakhar Jain, MicroX Labs won the Applied Materials India award of Rs. 5 lakh in medtech innovation. Rajesh Nandipati, Oncosimis Biotech received Rs. 5 lakh Excellence Prize sponsored by Biocon. Asawari Kane, PadCare Labs won the Novozymes Excellence Prize of Rs. 3 lakh. The Pfizer Entrepreneurship Award of Rs. 3.5 lakh went to Arindam Ghatak, Biomoneta. Halagappa Eswarappa Shashidhar, CultivaAgriTech received the Mahyco cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh in agri-biotechnology. An investment opportunity of US$75,000 from HealthVenture, USA in Digital Health went to Rohit Hiwale, Morphle Technologies. A special prize from C-CAMP was awarded to Shilpa Malik, Bioscan Research.
According to Dr. Renu Swarup, secretary DBT, government of India, and chairperson, BIRAC the purpose of this competition was to attract innovators, potential entrepreneurs who have a risk-taking appetite to convert an innovative idea to an impactful entrepreneurship venture.
“NBEC is about celebrating new ideas and the potential impact it can make to society. But an entrepreneurship is about how one monetizes an idea and take it to market. So don’t wait for the perfect idea. Wait for that one good idea. Shape its commercialisation journey and scale it up. Because impact and true recognition lie only in scaling, stated Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD Biocon.
A cohort of 65 startups from 3,000 registrations across 33 States/UTs in India participated in a 2 day Boot Camp with mentors from CIIE - IIM Ahmedabad prior to the finals. Of these 18 were selected by a jury on December 13 to pitch at the Grand Finale. Chief Guest present included Paresh Vora, director, India operations, WIN Foundation, Dr. Bhuvaneswari Sridhar, head, API Technology Group, Pfizer, Dr Bharat Char, CSO, Mahyco Seeds, Srikanth Prabhu, Portfolio and Innovation, Social Alpha, Nitin Deshmukh, CEO and founding member, Kotak Investment Advisors, Vipul Patel, VP, Investments, CIIE. CO, Abhinav Mehra, VP, ID Capital, Dr. Ashwin Kashikar, GM, R&D, Ankur Seeds, Dr. Sonjoy Mukherjee, GM, HyClone & Scientific initiatives, GE South Asia, GE, Sowmya Shresth, OD Partner & PO Manager India, Novozymes, Dr. Arvind Ranganathan, HealthVenture and Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and director, C-CAMP.
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