C

The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), a biosciences research and innovation hub, has selected 15 startups and four teams for its National Bio Entrepreneurship Competition (NBEC) 2026.

According to a statement, 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. This is the 9th edition of NBEC, a flagship platform of C-CAMP that aims to identify future bioscience entrepreneurs.

Over the past eight years C-CAMP has provided more than Rs 90 crore in cash prizes and investment opportunities to 130 plus winners. It added that the past winners have raised over $125 million in venture capital funding and launched more than 300 products.

This year’s competition saw over 3200 registrations from across 34 States and UTs with 40% of the applicants being women. The winners were selected from 25 finalists who were judged based on their novelty, scalability and business potential.

Among the solutions developed included next-gen cancer pathology, screening of kidney injury through quantum sensing, affordable insulin patch pumps, satellite imagery embedded smart spraying of agri inputs in farms,bioformulations to enhance soil health etc.

Biocon Chairman Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said, “The future of biology looks very promising as its convergence with digital technology and AI accelerates innovation at a never-before pace.”

She further added, “This (C-CAMP’s initiative) will build a strong economy for an aspiring India and lift the country’s bioeconomy from $195 billion to $2.6 trillion by 2047.”

C-CAMP CEO Taslimarif Saiyed said, “We want India’s innovators to aim higher and trust ecosystems like C-CAMP to support an ecosystem that enables your science and business growth.”

The investors in this programme include the likes of Social Alpha, Ideaspring Capital, Java Capital, TiE Global, Anicut Capital etc.