• 13 startups pitched to investors from across the country ; Deeptech- and medtech-focussed accelerator programs
• Tech Startups with education, marketing, finance and healthcare solutions
Hyderabad, India, August 24, 2019 : CIE @ IIITH (Center for Innovation Entrepreneurship at IIIT Hyderabad) announced the success of the 8th cohort of Avishkar deeptech accelerator program and 3rd cohort of OjasMedtech accelerator program. 13 startups from these two accelerators and other research connected programs pitched to a set of VCs and angel networks.
The Avishkar accelerator program takes on 2-3 startups in each cohort. In the past two years, 3 of these startups have given exits and 10 startups have successfully gone on to raise subsequent funds. OjasMedtech accelerator, which was launched last year has taken in 6 startups till date. Both the deeptech and medtech accelerators are intensive 6-month mentor and research led programs. INR 10_25 lakhs was invested in each of these startups.
CIE is the Center for Innovation Entrepreneurship of IIIT-H, focusing on all aspects relating to research led innovation and applied research. Itconcentrates on deep-tech startups, seeding startups directly out of research, and actively connecting research with startups. It houses about 100 startups and is an integral part of the Hyderabad startup ecosystem.
Among the noteworthy startups who successfully completed the program in this cohort are Xmachines and Altor. Xmachines, which builds autonomous mobile robots has established a research partnership with ICRISAT for use of its robots in agriculture and has successfully completed pilots at a few large manufacturing companies.
Altor, which builds smart helmets with accident sensors, alerts authorities and emergency contacts when an accident occurs. They are running pilots with 20 early adopters of their helmets.
Commenting on the success of the Avishkar and Ojas programs, Prof C V Jawahar, Dean R&D, IIITH said, “We, as an institute, are very keen on ensuring that our research helps startups solve real world problems. Many of our startups have successfully leveraged on the research done here to build their products and solutions.”
At the demo day organized as part of graduation, the graduating startups had the opportunity to pitch to investors. A total of 13 promising accelerator cohort startups and a few incubated startups (Onward Assist, Scholr, Instoried, Paymatrixetc) pitched at the event. A record number of around 15 prominent angel investors, funds and VCs from across the country participated in the demo day which included investors such as Sri Capital, Venture East, Hyderabad Angels and SucSeed Ventures.
