cie-iiith’s-deeptech,-medtech-and-mediatech-accelerators-winter-2022-cohort-commences-with-9-startups

CIE-IIITH’s Deeptech, Medtech and MediaTech Accelerators Winter 2022 cohort commences with 9 startups

 

Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at IIIT Hyderabad (CIE-IIITH) announced the onboarding of 9 startups for its combined accelerator cohorts Avishkar DeepTech accelerator (Cohort 16), Ojas Medtech accelerator (Cohort 9) and MediaTech accelerator (Cohort 2). Since the launch of accelerators in 2016, 39 startups have been in the accelerator programs in several advanced tech areas like AI/ML, IoT, and digital health with about 53% of them raising follow-on funding.

The Accelerator commencement happened for all shortlisted startups on 18 November 2022 in the presence of CIE’s panel of mentors and experts from the industry. From an overwhelming application pool of 120+ startups, the selection committee shortlisted 9 startups for the program from domains of brain modulation, XR, health diagnosis, digital health, AI, Computer Vision, Edutainment and Advertising.

The accelerator programs offer shortlisted startups up to INR 40L Seed Fund along with a detailed 6-month program that proffers 4 streams of mentorship – Business Strategy, GoToMarket Plan, Technical Review and domain-specific mentorship. The program is facilitated jointly with Co-creation Consulting, Arka media works and SucSeed Indovation Fund. Resident mentors for the program guide accelerator startups towards defining a thorough customer segment and business strategy. Key elements of the program include IIITH’s research support, domain mentoring, strategy & GTM planning and market access.

Prof. Ramesh Loganathan, COO CIE-IIITH says, “This flagship program of ours enables 15 deep tech startups every year, bringing unique value that is centred around the combination of research and markets strategy. We are very happy that these are all very early-stage startups with extremely promising technology, receiving formal support for the first time.

The startups shortlisted for this cohort are:

  • Avishkar Cohort 16
    • Segritech is a small and affordable automatic grading/sorting solution for fruits and vegetables.
    • Parentheses is a Deep Tech Augmented Intelligence which aims at putting the money back in the customer’s pocket by Maximising Man Machine Margins, through its innovative Hard-Tech platform – HuMaC.
    • Anantadi seamlessly integrate products and brands into entertainment content such as movies, TV shows, music videos, web series and streaming content after post-production. They do this with Digital Product Placement with AI.
  • Ojas Cohort 9
    • Sputnik Brain is building clinically validated novel brain modulation platform which physiologically elicits quick and rapid stress alleviation / pleasure in the brain in a convenient, biomarker-driven, repeatable and chemical-free technology.
    • Padmaseetha provides renal care through OmniPD, the world’s first portable PD cycler, allows peritoneal dialysis to be carried out at home without a break from their work.
    • Hummsa Biotech is an innovation driven company that is simplifying diagnostics through Biotechnology and Nanotechnology aiming to make quality healthcare affordable and accessible.
    • Innovo Care is building smart affordable medical devices with a special focus on the Indian elderly population offering NIBRA-CS for the detection of autonomic neuropathy.
  • Mediatech Cohort 2
    • Metaverts is a Platform for Advertising on Virtual Real Estate in Games, AR/VR & Metaverse
    • BlueBall Media and Entertainment is a Kids Audio Driven Edutainment Platform
four-social-startups-awarded-grant-under-raftaar-covid-support-accelerator-program-launched-by-aic-iiith-and-epam

Four Social Startups Awarded grant under Raftaar COVID Support Accelerator program launched by AIC-IIITH and EPAM

 

Startups and their plans have been completely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence to support them, AIC-IIITH has launched Raftaar – a COVID Support Acceleration program in collaboration with EPAM.

AIC-IIITH is an Atal Incubation Centre for tech-based social enterprises supported by AIM, NITI Aayog is the social incubator at CIE (the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship), IIIT Hyderabad. CIE is one of the oldest and now largest academic tech incubators in the country.

The Raftaar program is a part of EPAM’s CSR effort to make sustainable social impact and will support four for-profit social enterprises with a bridge grant of up to INR 3 lakhs and other non-financial support. The selected startups are:

  1. Jivoule Biofuels: A tech-enabled supply chain for collection of Used Cooking Oil and convert ingit into Biodiesel to be blended with regular Diesel to reduce carbon emissions and utilize Biodiesel without any alterations of current automobiles. This will solve environmental and health concerns.
  2. Tekra Solutions Pvt Ltd (myUDAAN): myUDAAN provides Mobility Assistance for persons with a disability and the elderly, including accessibility information and mobility assistant service on-demand to aid them venture out freely with freedom.
  3. Intech Harness Pvt Ltd: A patented, IoT-enabled farmer obedient pump controller for farmers facing erratic power & water conditions to automate farm irrigation with an ability to respond to power & water disruption without human intervention.
  4. ClimateX: An integrated decision support platform (SaaS) that provides urban climate intelligence to the property, construction, financial, insurance and government sectors.

These and other similar startups using technology to improve access and impact in areas like Healthcare, Agriculture, Environment and circular economy can help move the needle on India’s efforts towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This program helps them overcome the disruption caused by COVID-19 on their business operations and help amplify their impact and/or make them sustainable.

“We value knowledge sharing and education so much within EPAM and are proud to sponsor a variety of technology-related initiatives that act as a driving force for good, especially social impact-focused startups that have been greatly impacted by the pandemic,” said Shamilka Samarasinha, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at EPAM. “The recipients of the Raftaar COVID Support Accelerator program are making impressive strides towards sustainability. This program is just another way we continue to support our global and local communities.”

The key program highlights include:

  1. Milestone-based Bridge grant support up to INR 3 Lakh per startup
  2. Bootcamps/workshops on various topics
  3. Masterclasses and mentorship provided by expert
  4. Refining business model and support scaling for impact
  5. Access to CIE Startup services
  6. IIIT-H’s technology expertise, lab facilities, and talent pool

Expressing the significance and timely nature of the program, Prof. Ramesh Loganathan, Director of AIC-IIITH said, “COVID has disrupted the entire society and support for Social Startups is an essential tool to build back better. This is a timely program that has been designed in keeping with the institute’s credo of encouraging research and education that makes a difference.”