Biotechnology and life-science start-ups have no dearth of market opportunities. Yet, they face issues with access to funds and mentorship.

The number of start-ups in the biotechnology/lifesciences space has increased over the years. According to a source, when the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a technology commercialising arm of the Department of Biotechnology, started funding start-ups six years ago, only 10 had sought funding. Its recent call, however, got response from over 500 start-ups.

NVV Kiran Vuppala, Co-founder, Cerelia Nutritech, said that though funds were not a problem at the take-off stage, it was challenging at the idea stage. For instance Cerelia Nutritech, which is in the nutraceutical space and was incubated at the Foundation for Innovation and Technology in IIT-Delhi, is working on a body lotion for treating anaemia in expectant and young mothers. The lotion is infused with nano vitamins such as B12 and folic acid that can enter the bloodstream directly. However, the company had a hard time getting early-stage funding to bring the idea to the proof-of-concept stage.

Ruchi Singh, Co-founder, said: “We would apply for as many grants as possible but more often than not get rejected till we landed the Pfizer-IIT Delhi Innovation and IP Program.”

Under this programme, in addition to mentoring and funding for product development, Cerelia Nutritech gets handholding to take the product through the regulatory process.

Not only are the regulatory approvals time consuming, they are complex as products are new and untested in the market. “The body lotion for treating anaemia is new and we don’t have anyone to look up to. It takes a long time to figure out the regulatory route,” Singh said.

“This is another area where Pfizer helped a lot”. Currently Cerelia Nutritech has completed its lab testing successfully and is looking to do the clinical trials.

While companies such as Cerelia Nutritech figure out the right funding route, many bootstrap at the early stage and go for funding in later stages. Clensta, which makes waterless shampoo and body bath, did just that.

Puneet Gupta, Founder and CEO of Clensta, said the company bootstrapped initially till they were able to prove their idea. The problem, he said, is acceptance as investors are sceptical about product viability.

For Shubham Rathore, Founder and CEO, Test Right Nanosystems, which produces pocket-size spectrophotometer to test quality of diverse products such as milk, spices, water and soil, the major challenge was in getting the right technical mentorship.

Rathore said, “Since the idea is new, we were unable to find the right technical mentor who could guide us on the hardware aspect and this delayed the product development.” According to him, having a platform that can connect early stage start-ups with mentors will be of a great help.

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