19 startups and 5 student innovators were announced as the winners of the C-CAMP National Bio Entrepreneurship Competition (NBEC) 2024 with support from Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) at The Lalit Ashok, Bangalore on August 10th, 2024
The winning startups received a total of 15 Crore INR in cash prizes and investment opportunities, while student-led teams secured 5 Lakhs INR in cash prizes across various awards presented at the Grand Finale. Selected winners will also receive mentorship through partnerships with key industry leaders.
This year’s competition, attracted over 3,300 applications from 33 States and Union Territories, including a significant number from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, showcasing the quality and depth of biotech ideas emerging from smaller cities of the country.
The winning projects addressed critical challenges in areas such as cancer screening and therapeutics, rapid diagnostics, therapies for non-communicable diseases, dermatological health, AI powered data analytics for health applications, animal health, agriculture, aquaculture, water and sanitation including waste water treatment, food and nutraceuticals, biofuels, biopolymers and clean technology.
The jury team was chaired by Mr. Prashanth Prakash, Chairman, Karnataka's Startup Vision Group and Partner at Accel Partners and experts from NBEC 2024 partners WIN Foundation, Novonesis, Anthem Biosciences, Mahyco, Aurigene, Loreal Research and Innovation, Social Alpha, Indian Angel Network & Bio angels, IIMA Ventures, Accel, Molecular Connections, Biocon, Biocon Biologics, Syngene, Synapses and Biocombinator.
The 22 finalists were shortlisted from a total of 62 pre-finalist startups based on novelty, scalability and business potential parameters.
Quotes:
Shri. Priyank Kharge, Minister for IT/BT and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Govt of Karnataka: “The Government of Karnataka is continuously evolving its schemes and policies to support entrepreneurs, particularly in the challenging field of bio-entrepreneurship. With a longer learning curve and gestation period, bio-entrepreneurs play a crucial role in solving real-life problems. The government is committed to accelerating the biotech sector and supporting biotech startups. Karnataka contributes to nearly one-fifth of the country’s bioeconomy, and initiatives like NBEC have successfully identified and nurtured our talent pool. CCAMP has been at the heart of Bengaluru’s bio-entrepreneurship ecosystem, supporting and nurturing young entrepreneurs to innovate, incubate, and drive change. The NBEC cohort will not only foster innovative solutions but also contribute to economic growth, create jobs, and elevate India’s presence in the global market. At the Govt of Karnataka we are constantly listening to inputs from industry captains, leaders and changemakers on how best to bring positive change to the startup ecosystem because you as disruptors hold tremendous potential to transform not only practices and systems but the economy as a whole.”
Dr. Ekroop Caur, IAS, Secretary, Dept of IT-BT and S&T, Govt of Karnataka: “The fact that 3300 ideas came from 33 states and UTs came for NBEC2024 is inspiring because it shows that the innovation and entrepreneurial culture is developing strongly in India. Karnataka in particular has a thriving biotech startup ecosystem. We had 202 new ventures being registered as startups in biotech alone in the last FY which only underlines the crucial importance of biotech as a sector for human progress and well-being.”
Mr. Prashanth Prakash, Chairman, Karnataka's Startup Vision Group and Partner at Accel Partners expressed that he was personally enriched to hear from innovators covering such a wide-ranging sector of technologies. He credited C-CAMP, BIRAC and similar organisations for fuelling the entrepreneurial aspirations of students, researchers and individual innovators towards taking their scientific pursuits from beyond lab to market. He said “This encourages me to think that standing here five years later, I will hear 10x more improved and honed solutions to our biotech problems.”
Dr. Vijay Chandru, Advisor, Karnataka State Council on S&T and Co-founder, Strand Life Sciences: “When I come to NBEC I am struck by the convergence of stakeholders, innovators, domains of the entire life sciences ecosystem. Karnataka being the IT capital of India is well poised to be the melting pot where IT and BT [biotechnology] converge to solve problems, not only existing but future ones such as biosecurity.”
Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and Director, C-CAMP: “We are seeing NBEC as the largest effort of its kind to really churn the bio innovation community in India. Many similar competitions exist but what makes NBEC stand out is its sector-agnostic approach, openness to partners, sponsors and Venture Capitalists, and to bright ideas irrespective of affiliation and background. This is why we are seeing an amplification of the true spirit of entrepreneurship in the bio sciences from all across India and across students, researchers, clinicians, scientists, innovators, startups and even MSMEs. What unites us all is the common purpose of harnessing scientific advancements to solve people’s problems.”
Winner Profiles:
Biocombinator has announced investment in 4 selected startups for upto 4 Cr INR. Names to be declared later.
About NBEC
Launched in 2017, NBEC, is a launchpad for science-driven ideas. Over the years, the competition has highlighted nearly 100 promising young entrepreneurs who have gained attention from global investors and won global accolades NBEC has help create this steady pipeline of innovative solutions with demonstrated commercial potential, that address India’s most formidable challenges in healthcare, agriculture and environment. Now in its seventh year, NBEC continues to provide a ready cohort of India’s most promising handpicked business ideas with significant commercial, innovation, and impact potential in the life sciences and biotech domains.