In the last few years, India’s healthcare industry has thrived due to a growing population, rising income levels, the private sector’s ever-increasing stakes in the industry, a lucrative medical tourism business, and government incentives in the medtech space. According to a GoI report, India’s medical devices industry is valued at USD 11 bn and will likely touch USD 50 bn by 2025.
Overall, the country has witnessed a concentration of efforts intended to catalyze startup culture and build a strong and inclusive ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship. The nation’s startup revolution has spawned 27 tech unicorns and 3 decacorns. In keeping with the robust culture of ‘new thinking’, geared towards building a different future, the focus has shifted to developing homegrown medtech product startups in healthcare and biotechnology.
But not everything is as hunky-dory as it seems. The huge gap between demand and supply of healthcare services in India, lack of infrastructure, low penetration of health insurance, and the growing burden from communicable and non-communicable diseases demand accessible and affordable technologies.
Due to the inherent risks in the healthcare sector, the adoption and integration of these technologies into mainstream clinical practices become notoriously difficult. A phenomenon further rendered complicated due to multiple stakeholders rarely coming together. Much like a village raising a child, the healthcare products require a nurturing ecosystem comprising doctors, technologists, investors, clinical institutions, regulatory bodies, and NGOs, among other participants.
Against this backdrop, Social Alpha and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C CAMP), India’s premier biosciences innovation hub, joined hands two years ago to create a novel co-incubation partnership to back the best startups in the ecosystem. The pooling of resources has resulted in a strong framework of support that includes co-investment, combined real-estate support, innovation scouting, and joint programs.
This symbiotic relationship perfectly complements each other’s strengths. C CAMP brings top scientific expertise, some of the best lab facilities in the country, technology mentoring, and access to government programs for funding. Social Alpha’s expertise lies in clinical adoption, market access, investment readiness, and go-to-market strategies. Collectively, the partnership is able to address significant gaps along the complete horizon of Lab-to-Market in an entrepreneur’s journey.
Startups incubated: Together Social Alpha and C CAMP have incubated eight startups dealing with diverse challenges such as managing care for terminally ill patients, last-mile healthcare delivery, and solving niche problems in neonatal care. As part of the co-incubation model, the partners have committed to dilutive and non-dilutive capital of USD 1 million.
Joint scouting for innovations: Since 2017, the annual National Bio-entrepreneurship competition, held in Bengaluru, has thrown up 6300-plus innovations in the areas of life sciences and healthcare.
Collaborative programmes: 1) A joint initiative with the government of Karnataka, anchored by C CAMP, provides intensive mentoring by industry leaders to early-stage startups in product engineering, regulatory pathways, and investment-readiness, among other key business-related aspects.
2) Confronted with the unprecedented risks and challenges posed by SARS-CoV2, Social Alpha and C-CAMP, along with United Nations Health Innovation Exchange, identified 31 near-deployment ready innovations, including rapid diagnostic kits, assisted respiratory devices, AI/ML-based pre-screening and monitoring tools to detect the virus, preventive technologies including air and surface sanitizers, remote vital stats monitoring systems in healthcare spaces, telemedicine, end-to-end cold chain transport of viral specimens from remote locations, stem cell-based therapeutics, anti-COVID-19 drug screening platform, and plasma and immunomodulatory therapies that could effectively tackle the virus.
Success stories:
Blackfrog Technologies: Based out of Manipal, the technology startup is at the forefront of transportation of Covid-19 samples. Its flagship product Emvolio, a patented rapid cooling technology for safe last-mile transport, maintains a stable 4-degree centigrade platform. Up to 30 samples can be picked up from hospitals or collection centers and sent to the nearest testing facility in a single unit. The company, currently working closely with Udupi district hospitals, has deployed 2 units for supporting up to 60 tests daily. They will also deploy 3 units for the SELCO foundation in Chennai.
Ubiqare Health Pvt Ltd: It brings the ease of a one-stop solution for access to specialty medical care at home via a telehealthcare platform and highly trained medical staff to manage chronic palliative as well as rehabilitative care. Based in Bengaluru, the startup has serviced 197 patients and their families for over 8500 days while dealing with cancer, stroke, multiple sclerosis, post-op, chronic ailments, and Covid.
Bubblenut Wash (BNW): Based in Bengaluru, BNW has seen early success by creating livelihoods for more than 100 tribal families, doubling their incomes in locations where lack of employment opportunities often leads to malnutrition and starvation. With sales growing by 100% every year, BNW is creating a positive impact on the environment has eliminated more than 40,000 liters of petrochemical-based detergents.
