BioVoice News June 2016 Issue 2 Volume 1 | Page 35

“ Marketing. Sachin and Usman are M Tech from CCT, University of Rajasthan while Prajyot is a MBA from IIMAhmedabad. For help in operations, company hires interns on mutual terms from time to time. Module has several achievements to its credit, the biggest of which include a 50 lakh grant from Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Selection for the finale of the affordable healthcare India scheme by Wellcome Trust, UK, in collaboration with UMass, Amherst, Selection for the IIM-A, CIIE healthcare accelerator. The latest and the most outstanding as Sachin states, is winning the Unitus Seed Fund’s StartHealth3 competition with a cash prize of Rs 10 lakhs and an opportunity for fund upto 2 crore. challenge,” said Mr Sachin Dubey. Talking about the challenges, Sachin added further, “Also we believe that funding biotech companies in the valley of death is critical to sustain the innovation atmosphere otherwise there will be a huge count of startups that will around 65 lakh from grants and awards and are in talks of raising another 50 lakh as seed fund. Company is looking at raising around 1crore for another 12 months to bring USense into a marketable form. The company aims to earn a name in quality diagnostic technology at affordable prices. Leveraging the platform being developed for USense we plan to roll out multiple products aimed at diagnosis of several other viral and bacterial diseases in humans and animals. Products for pathogen detection in food to be used during the food processing while production and, onshelves, saving millions of dollars for the industry also keeping consumers in perfect shape. Module plans to introduce Wellness products to be used at home keeping track of one’s health. Funding biotech companies in the valley of death is critical to sustain the innovation atmosphere otherwise there will be a huge count of startups that will die. “The journey so far has been a collage of happy and sad moments with challenges at numerous points. The government has been quite supportive for bringing out agencies like BIRAC, but apart from the financial support it was the mentorship that was critical. Module has been lucky to have Venture Centre, Pune and C-CAMP, Bangalore in their advisory board who helped bring in right advice, people and connect needed at appropriate times. Finding qualified and talented people, who share the founder’s vision of a startup, continues to remain a Sachin Dubey, CEO die. There is also a lacking of clear guidelines in terms of regulations and certifications for medical devices and an equivalent system like the US-FDA should be in place in India.” Banking on positive outlook Module is now seeking more funds as it plans to expand in terms of human talent, expanding the product portfolio and begin pilot studies of USense. It is open for collaboration with technical institutes, hospitals and government agencies. Module has been able to raise enough funds to sustain its operations and R&D efforts for bringing out innovative products. It has so far raised “The market opportunity is huge with Indian diagnostic market pegged at more than 2.5 billion US$, and with the startup India movement in full swing, we believe that we will be able to leverage and contribute to the mission of our PM Narendra Modi of “Make in India” but we want to go an extra mile with our products” Made in India, for the world” says Sachin whose only dream is to contribute to states like Rajasthan, where he belongs and has been a witness to lack of healthcare facilities. KEY PERSONNEL AT MODULE INNOVATION Usman Khan, COO Prajyot Gandhi, Marketing Head BIOVOICENEWS.COM 35