15 startups, four student teams win C

MYSURU: Fifteen start-ups and four student teams were announced as winners at the 9th edition of C-CAMP’s National Bio Entrepreneurship Competition (NBEC) 2026, held on Saturday here. The winning startups received a total of Rs 35 crore in cash prizes, while student-led teams secured Rs 4 lakh in cash prizes across various categories.

The competition was conducted in coordination with the Department of IT, BT, S&T. NBEC is the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) platform that identifies, nurtures and rewards breakthrough solutions having the potential to address critical challenges across health, agriculture and environment.

This year’s competition saw over 3200 registrations from 34 states and UTs. Also, 40% of the applicants were female innovators. Also present on the occasion, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon Limited, said, “With AI and deep tech unlocking biology’s complexity, we have a good understanding of the science.

We need to find a way to scale the business. This will build a strong economy for India and lift the country’s bioeconomy from $195Bn to $2.6 trillion by 2047,” she said.