15 startups, 4 student teams win prizes worth Rs 35 Cr at C-CAMP National Bio Entrepreneurship Competition 2026

Fifteen startups and four student teams were announced as the winners of the 9^th edition of C-CAMP’s National Bio Entrepreneurship Competition (NBEC) 2026, held on 12 September, in the presence of Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon Limited. The competition has been conducted with the support of the Department of IT, BT, S&T, Government of Karnataka as Home State Ecosystem Partner.

The winning startups received a total of Rs 35+ crore in cash prizes and investment opportunities, while student-led teams secured Rs 4 Lakh in cash prizes across various awards presented at the Finale held at The Lalit Ashok, Bengaluru. All winners will also receive mentorship and handholding support through partnerships with key industry leaders.

Social Alpha is investing Rs 10 crore for Credawn (Marrow Ease: An intelligent, powered bone marrow sampling system guided by real time marrow localisation & feedback); Rural Surgery; Lightprobe; 1000 Farms (For Nitrogenie - a rhizosphere-targeted microbial delivery bioformulation using biological “hooks” to enhance nitrogen fixation, microbial soil persistence, crop yield, soil health & chemical fertiliser reduction); Openwater (For OYSTER - a compact, proprietary electrochemical greywater treatment), and Renu Medtech (InsuPatch: A made-in-India affordable insulin patch pump with novel delivery technology).

IIMA Ventures will invest Rs 2.5- 3 crore in Lightprobe (For a microscope for next-generation digital pathology for cancer) and Medrinz Bio (Transforming orthopedics with antimicrobial implants and 3D printed bone regenerator).

Ideaspring Capital is investing Rs 15 crore in Lightprobe, Renu Medtech and Premas Lifesciences (For Development and Multicentric Validation of an India-Focused NGS-Based Glaucoma Panel for Early Risk Assessment and Precision Ophthalmology).

Enzia Ventures is investing Rs 1-2 crore in Renu Medtech and Lightprobe. Indian Healthcare Angels in investing Rs 2 crore in Renu Medtech, Cellarim (For Cell-Free BioForge: A Scalable, Modular Platform for Rapid, On-Demand Biomanufacturing), Skiom (For Improvement of skin barrier function for Atopic dermatitis management containing fermentation based ingredients though skin microbiome modulation) and BioMarkIQ (VarSee™ Lung: An AI-read blood test for early-stage lung cancer detection in India’s existing diagnostic infrastructure).

Java Capital is investing Rs 2 crore in Quantum Biosciences (Quantum Sentinel: An NV-center quantum sensing platform for early prediction of post-surgical acute kidney injury via real-time reactive oxygen species detection); Lightprobe, Cellarim and Premas Lifesciences. C-CAMP is investing an undisclosed amount in Medrinz Bio, Modern Village (Agri Rover Vyom -a digital platform which helps farmers for all their requirements) and Earthkind (For Bio-Fermented Speciality Oil using engineered oleaginous microorganisms)

TiE Global is investing an undisclosed amount into Renu Medtech, Rural Surgeries, Lightprobes, Premas Lifesciences and Cellarim. Anicut Capital is investing an undisclosed amount into Lightprobe, Callarim, Earthkind and Openwater.

The student winners included Bushra Naaz from SKUAST Kashmir, Jammu & Kashmir, is working on Sustainable Plant-Based Meat Analogues; Pankaj & Mehak from Dr. B.R. Ambedkar NIT Jalandhar are working on Sustainable Khimp Fibre Extraction and Bio-Fabric Development for Rural Livelihood Generation and Eco-Friendly Textile Innovation; Aayush Chandra Jha & Yawar Habib at IIT Delhi are developing India's First Dual-Biomarker Rapid Cardiac Diagnostic Assay; while Adarsh Saju & Aswin Tony at College of Engineering & Medical College, Trivandrum are working on AI-Powered Early Cerebral Palsy Screening for Infants.

This year’s competition, attracted 3200+ registrations from across 34 States and UTs, including a significant number from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Moreover, 40% of the applicants were female innovators.