NBEC 2021 declares the names of 17 startups & 5 students as winners

New Delhi: The National Bio Entrepreneurship Competition NBEC 2021 declares 17 Startups and 5 student innovators as winners after a closely contested four months that attracted ~2500 applications from 30 states and UTs including metros, Tier I, II and III cities.

Now in its 5^th year, NBEC is a nationwide annual showcase of India’s most promising business ideas with significant commercial, innovation and impact potentials in the Life Sciences and biotech domain. The winners this year are addressing challenges in medical devices, antimicrobial resistance, drug discovery, diagnostics, agri-biotechnology, water and sanitation, industrial biotechnology, maternal and child health, and clean technology.

NBEC is organized every year by Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms, a Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India supported organization, under the BIRAC Regional Entrepreneurship Centre (BREC), as a C-CAMP – BIRAC joint initiative to attract, identify and nurture game-changing deep science ideas with business potential. This year it has received support from 34 national and international partners with some of the biggest names in the biotech industry in India coming on board.

Winning startups stand to receive a cumulative of 8.6 Cr INR in cash prizes and investment opportunities while student-led teams swooped up 14.5 lakhs in cash prizes over a total of 30 awards declared today at the Grand Finale. Additionally, C-CAMP will be conducting a 1-year C-CAMP Accelerator Program for all the winners of NBEC 2021. This program comprises of 12-month of mentorship including 1 month of incubation. Among other ecosystem support, the competition will also provide access to industry mentorship in tie-ups with key industry leaders to all winners.

The Grand Jury for NBEC 2021 counted 30 eminent names drawn from Indian biotech industry, partners and funders. The Startup Panel was chaired by Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and Director, C-CAMP and the Student Panel by Dr Malathi Lakshmikumaran, Executive Director and Practice Head, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys. 46 Finalist pitches were judged for novelty, scalability and business potential parameters to identify India’s top bio entrepreneurial talent. These 46 were culled from 322 in a regional qualifying round that could be one of India’s most diverse and representative bio-innovation competitions yet, in terms of geographical and domain footprints.

Winners of NBEC #5 join an illustrious cohort of 39 NBEC winners since NBEC launch in 2017 many of whom are already in the market with globally acclaimed and investor-backed healthcare, agriculture or environment technologies. These globally relevant innovations can potentially change lives, improve access and drive both economic growth and social equity in India and beyond.

Dr Ashwathnarayan C.N., Minister for Higher Education, IT & BT, Sci & Tech, Skill Development, Entrepreneurship & Livelihood, Govt. of Karnataka in his Keynote address said “C-CAMP is an institution that has the capability to transform society and give a platform for youngsters. It has a pan India presence & NBEC is just one of its achievements. It is really heartening and encouraging to see that such a good amount of investment has been made in these innovative ideas at NBEC. I convey my best wishes to the winners & going ahead, we will together build more innovations along with C-CAMP.”

Dr Manish Diwan, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Entrepreneurship Development, at BIRAC, said “NBEC, a platform recognized across India, is an exercise where innovators gain a lot in terms of value & clarity on how to move forward with their innovations. And participation of industry provides that recognition & reassurance to these ideas. Looking forward to supporting them from BIRAC”

Mrs. G.K. Krupalini, K.A.S, General Manager – Biotech Karnataka Innovation & Technology Society, Dept. of Electronics, IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka said, “Government of Karnataka has been working closely with CCAMP for many years through various projects. I congratulate all the winners and urge them to continue to innovate to reduce burden of diseases, increase crop yield and contribute to the bioeconomy”

Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO & Director, C-CAMP said “The Indian startup ecosystem has been projected to contribute to $ 1 Trillion & NBEC is the right platform for bio innovators to start contributing to this economy. Today is the outcome of some phenomenal ideas and we are excited to take forward their ideas at the CCAMP Accelerator program”

Winner profiles: Startups 

Amir Valani, DIPITR Technologies  – [Medical Devices – A wearable device for Smart Posture Training & Correction preventing and reducing back and neck injuries] won the Mylab cash prize of 7lakhs INR and CIIE investment opportunity of 100,000 USD

Jitesh Pandey, Individual Innovator – [Medical Devices – Low-cost, non-invasive bilirubin measuring device for screening for neonatal jaundice] won the Aurigene cash prize of 7 lakhs INR

Umanath Rayar, Freshrooms Life Sciences – [Agri-Biotechnolgy solution to convert waste into edible protein products using edible insects], won the Ankur Seeds cash prize of 7lakhs INR

Dr. Pratik Pawar – [Industrial Biotechnology] Solution for production of essential lipids from yeast fermentation] – won the L’Oreal cash prize of 5 lakhs INR and Sangam VC investment opportunity of 350,000 USD

Divya Sriram, D-NOME – [Diagnostics] – Next Generation innovative PCR technology, D-LAMP for accurate, affordable and scalable diagnostics – won the Cytiva cash prize of 5lakhs INR and Syngene cash prize of 2 lakhs NR

Krishnamurthy B, Sterent Systems – [Medical Devices- Vacuum jar disinfector for body fluid waste disposal and treatment] – won the Pfizer cash prize of 3.5 lakhs INR

Vasanth Ramesh, Humus Biosystems – [Water & Sanitation] Decentralized wastewater treatment system for public toilet complexes – won the WIN Foundation cash prize of 3 lakhs INR and Sangam VC investment opportunity of 350,000 USD in Water & Sanitation category

Akitha Kolloju, Heamac Healthcare – [Maternal & Child Health] An intelligent phototherapy device that can treat severe jaundice in neonates – won the WIN Foundation cash prize of 3 lakhs INR in the Maternal & Child Health category

Nitesh Jangir, Innaccel – [Medical Devices] A multi powered, multi-use, infrastructure-independent newborn respiratory support device for low resource settings – won the Iqvia cash prize of 3 lakhs INR

Arpit Dhupar, Dharaksha Ecosolutions – [Agri-Biotechnology] Biodegradable packaging material out of crop stubble waste – won the Novozymes cash prize of 3 lakhs INR and Social Alpha investment opportunity of 150,000 USD

Parul Ganju, Ahammune Biosciences – [Drug Discovery] Novel, non-steroidal approach to treat skin disorder, Vitiligo – won the Anthem Biosciences cash prize of 3 lakhs INR and investment opportunities worth 150,000 USD from Enzia Ventures and 100,000 USD from Molecular Connections

Subho Dutta, SNRAS SYSTEMS – [Agri-Biotechnology] Nano Re-circulatory Aquaculture System to increase fish productivity and reduce crop mortality – won the Mahyco cash prize worth 3 lakhs INR

Kranti Kiran Reddy Ealla – [Antimicrobial Resistance] Antibacterial and Osteoinductive drug induced hydrogel formulation for post tooth extraction wound management without antibiotic treatment – won the Biocon Limited cash prize of 2 lakhs INR

Avinash Sonawane – [Drug Discovery] Novel drug to improve treatment of primary and relapse acute lymphatic leukemia – won the Biocon Biologics cash prize of 2 lakhs INR

Amey Desai , Lifespark Technologies– [Medical Devices] Medical Device to improve mobility in Parkinson’s Disease through Artificial Intelligence application – won the investment opportunities worth 150,000 USD each from Social Alpha and India Angel Network (IAN)

Adarsha K, Ayu Devices – [Medical Devices] – Bluetooth enabled smart stethoscope that offers a one-stop solution to identify abnormal chest sounds for respiratory illnesses – won the investment opportunity of 100,000 USD from Molecular Connections.

Deval Karia – [Medical Devices] An affordable, open loop insulin pump for type-1 diabetic patients in resource constrained settings – won investment opportunity of 50,000 USD from Curadev.

Winner profiles: Student Teams

Team led by Apurba Das won the Persistent Systems cash prize of 5 lakhs INR for their Electro-active scaffolds designed from biocompatible and bioactive ceramics for rapid healing of complex bone fractures.

Team led by Pranay Rakesh won the BIRAC cash prize award of 3 lakhs INR for their intelligent odour delivery system for memory reactivation.

Team led by Harshith won the Curadev cash prize award of 3 lakhs INR for their low-Cost ventilator with aerosol therapy assisting in targeted drug delivery.

Snehal Jamalpure won the K & S partners and Bugworks pooled cash prize worth a total of 2 lakh INR for a field-ready sensor system for rapid diagnosis and real-time monitoring of viral diseases affecting aquaculture.

Team led by Gauri Ghule won the Shrikumar Suryanarayanan, Manipal   of Higher Education, and Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys pooled cash prize worth 1.5 lakhs INR for for cortisol and ion based sweat sensor technology integrable with smart watches and wearable patches to monitor cystic fibrosis patients.