Although the idea of 3D cell-culture substrate based on electrospinning could not take of, and my partner had to leave the company, we did not stop collaborating. I was working on different laser based diagnostics and 3D printing ideas and my friend was working on the biomaterial aspect for developing cell-culture substrate. The challenge was to integrate various technologies to fabricate multi-scale substrates. Finally by the mid of 2018, the pursuit yielded results and cell-culture on 3D substrates (based on our design) was demonstrated. We soon filed an Indian patent and started working on a business plan. Finally our efforts were recognised and the merit of the project brought us BIG finding from BIRAC of Department of Biotechnology, GoI. With this funding we incubated the company at CrAdLE - an NSTEDB supported incubator in the campus of EDII in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The past experience taught us that it is wise to keep working on more than one projects to build a sutainable technology business. On these lines my partner kept working on another device - a blood microsampler, which also received funding under GYTI (BIRAC). Presently I am working as CTO of this company along with another partners and with a team of engineers.

It started with a thought of developing a medical device at hostel canteen in 2008 at IIT Kanpur. The idea aimed at design and development of non- invasive IR- based, early warning, a diagnostic device for myocardial infarction patients. This idea was judged in a bio-material project as the 2nd best idea among 6 ideas floated in the class of 40 students. Further, we developed a business plan around the idea and fortunately, it won 2nd prize in bio-business plan competition at Teckriti ( techno-managerial annual fest), 2009 @ IITK. Later, I along with one of the member of the old team from IIT Kanpur revived the project after a gap of 4 years in 2013 and submitted the business plan in BEST- 2013 organized by ABLE & DBT, GOVT of India and the project was judged by one of the 20 finalist project invited for 4 days long entrepreneurial workshop and pitch the idea before the distinguished jury. Although we could not manage to secure one of the top 3 positions; yet we got into an eye of investors. Later, we were approached by a group of investors who were willing to pump initial seed fund of 30 lakhs for initial R & D and prototype development after an initial pitch. Further, through an initial R & D, we managed to get our initial data as a proof-of-concept of the idea and, thereafter, filed an Indian provisional patent on 1st Jan 2015. However, during this long journey from Nov 2008, the number of people came in the project and left. Unfortunately, due to an unavailability of potential team members, we had to forgo the investor's money which we managed to secure earlier. Later, we submitted the business plan around IR Diagnostics to OneStart Europe 2016, a global healthcare competition. There, we were selected as semifinalists (one of the top 20 teams from across the countries of the globe except US and Canada) and the only entry from India. We went to London (UK) to attend a 2-day entrepreneurial workshop and pitch our idea before distinguished Jury. Unfortunately, we could not make up to top 10 finalists in that global competition. However, we received ample feedback from industry and technology leaders that the idea is very innovative from the scientific perspective but lacks the strong business merit. Finally, I took charge of the project solely as it lacked business potential but had scientific merit. However, many cheaper products hit the market soon after and I had to stop the project due to lack of manpower and resources. Nevertheless, It was indeed a fruitful journey and gave me enough to strive in the healthcare market. 

Patent:

Method of diagnosing cardiovascular diseases and other metabolic disorders using a biomarker based non-invasive/minimally-invasive sensor. (Application number: 4246/MUM/2014) (under examination)