C-CAMP announces 14 innovators as winners of its National Bio Entrepreneurship Competition 2020

Bengaluru-based life science incubator Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) announced 14 innovators as the winners of its fourth National Bio Entrepreneurship Competition (NBEC 2020).

According to the official statement, 11 bio-entrepreneurs and three student-led teams were selected out of more than 3,100 applications as winners after the four-months-long competition. As a part of this, the winning startups have been awarded a cumulative Rs 7 crore in cash prizes and investment opportunities while student-led teams have been awarded Rs 10 lakh in cash prizes. The winners will also get access to industry mentorship.

The fourth edition of the competition was announced in September with an aim to conduct a nationwide search for potential ideas which can make a societal impact in the life sciences sector. The event was conducted as a part of the BIRAC Regional Entrepreneurship Centre (BREC).

“For an innovation-led, knowledge-based society, efforts like NBEC are crucial because they connect academia, entrepreneurs and industry to build together a strong and dynamic ecosystem. COVID-19 has underlined how critical such an ecosystem would be for India & beyond,” Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and Director at C-CAMP said in a statement.

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The winners

The following startups, innovators and student teams were announced as the winners:

Carditek Medical Devices: The Bengaluru startup was declared as winner in the healthcare domain and received a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh from Aurigene.

Cyclops Medtech: The startup won the Biocon cash prize of Rs 5 lakh in the healthcare segment and has also been selected for an investment opportunity of $100,000 from Enzia Ventures. It has also been selected by Kotak for a surprise investment opportunity.

Avisa: The California-based startup was awarded L’Oreal sponsored cash prize of Rs 5 lakh in personal care domain.

Agdhi Tech: Bengaluru-based Agdhi Tech won in the agritech sector and received Ankur Seeds cash prize of Rs 5 lakh. It was also selected for Sangam Ventures investment opportunity of $300,000.

Accord Innovations: Accord was declared the winner in the healthcare segment and was awarded with the Pfizer cash prize of Rs 3.5 lakh.

Adiuvo Diagnostics: The biotech startup won both the Anthem Biosciences and IQVIA sponsored cash prizes of Rs 3 lakh each.

Nanopearl: The startup was awarded Novozymes and Win Foundation sponsored cash prizes worth Rs 3 lakh in the sustainability, cleantech, and water sanitation domain. It was also selected for Sangam Ventures investment opportunity of $300,000 and an investment opportunity of $100,000 from Enzia Ventures.

Sascan Meditech: Bengaluru-based Sascan Meditech won the Win Foundation-funded cash prize of Rs 3 lakh for its innovation in the maternal and child health sector.

Qzense: The startup was selected for the India Angel Network investment opportunity of $100,000.

Godaam Innovations: This startup was got the Social Alpha investment opportunity of $100,000.

Along with Qzense, Cyclops and Carditek were also selected for IndiaAngel Network investment opportunity ande Molecular Connections investment opportunity of up to $100,000.

Apart from this, Sanjiv Sambandan, Assistant professor at Indian Institute of Science, won the Health Venture Digital Health Boot Camp participation award and the surprise C-CAMP special prize.

“The winners in the student-team innovation category were Tanish T Sridhar who won the Persistent Systems sponsored cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, Chandan Kumar Jha won the BIRAC cash prize of Rs 3 lakh and Abduljabbar Khan won Rs 2 lakh in a pooled prize by K&S partners, Bioneeds and Ideaspring Capital,” the statement noted.

Addressing the audience virtually during the event, Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary of Department of Biotechnology, Govt of India and Chairperson, BIRAC said that the ecosystem is aimed at helping the players to become global leaders and realise the ambition of AatmaNirbhar Bharat.