Working out of 8 ft x10 ft rooms in IIT Delhi's incubation centre, 18 infant technology startups are each striving to solve problems in fields ranging from automobiles to health, biotechnology and heritage conservation. The startups founded by IIT alumni get mentoring, office space and funding at the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT).

Vecmocon Technologies

Opportunities abound in the government's push to electrify all vehicles by 2030, feel the founders of Vecmocon, a company that designs artificially intelligent electric vehicle components for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

The year-old B2B company is run out of the incubator by IIT alumni Peeyush Asati, Nikesh Bisht and Shivam Wankhede and engineers Adarshkumar B and Prashanth Sridharan.

"Even the big automobile names in India just import parts from China and fit them on to the vehicle's chassis. But we can design specific parts for them and they'll have access to technology," says Bisht.

"For instance, electric two-wheeler maker Okinawa is using 35-kilo batteries. For the same energy range, our design can be produced at just 8.5 kilos," he adds. The startup has signed a contract with Okinawa.

The founders believe the hardware they are working on is just the tool to collect data. "The bigger thing we are aspiring for is the data associated with the automobiles...It can be used for predictive maintenance, by government agencies and traffic agencies as well as by OEMs to improve products," says Wankhede.

Vecmocon's Nikesh Bisht, Adarshkumar B & Shivam Wankhede have designed AIbased battery for electric 2-wheeler maker Okinawa (Photo: K Asif) Click here to Enlarge Vecmocon's Nikesh Bisht, Adarshkumar B & Shivam Wankhede have designed AIbased battery for electric 2-wheeler maker Okinawa (Photo: K Asif)

The company expects 1,000-1,200 electric scooters with their technology to be on the road by end of 2018. Vecmocon, which has filed two patents for technology, has started vehicle testing.

The incubation centre allows companies to stay on for two to three years. In the two years Vecmocon has left at FITT, it wants to cover 10,000 vehicles and apply for funding. The bootstrapped company has applied for Rs 75 lakh government funding through FITT. "The incubator gives us access to labs for testing, helps us with filing patents, access funds and gives us office space," says Adarshkumar.

Vizara Technologies

Anupama Malik, Geetika Sharma and Vijay Chandru's nearly year-old startup wants to use forward-looking technology to preserve the country's centuries-old heritage. Vizara was born out of a government project to digitise the UNESCO world heritage site of Hampi in Karnataka. PhD scholars from IIT-D, Malik and Sharma's startup scaled up two parts of the project.

'Virtual Vittala' is a scaled-down physical replica of one of the temples in Hampi which guides the user through a virtual walkthrough of the model using a laser beam. "On the screen, you feel as if as if you are going through the temple in the path you have chosen. It's called a mixed reality interface. You don't have to actually be in the monument. You can be far away and experience it," says Malik. The second project, ontology-based story narrations, is in demo stage.

"We have pitched our idea to the government. The ministry of culture, Archaeological Survey of India and even the external affairs ministry can use our models in their embassies to show people who come to get visas," she adds.

Malik says the most important benefit of being at FITT is the brand name, which matters especially when you pitch to the government. "Plus, the infrastructure is great. We can use the 3D printer for our models. There is exchange of tech expertise among various startup founders. FITT also exposes you to a whole lot of investors and interested parties."

Vizara has been here since October and applied for a seed fund of about a crore. "Our plan is to generate Rs 3 crore revenue by first year. We want to have more people on board in a year and half. We'll be here till then and scale up."

(L-R) Geetika Sharma & Anupama Malik of Vizara with their 3D-printed temple models (Photo: K Asif) Click here to Enlarge (L-R) Geetika Sharma & Anupama Malik of Vizara with their 3D-printed temple models (Photo: K Asif)

Nano Clean Global

As India rakes in the dubious distinction of being among the most polluted countries every year, IIT-D alumni Prateek Sharma, Tushar Vyas and Jatin Kewlani of Nano Clean Global have developed naso filters-nano technology-based nasal filters the purify the air that the wearer inhales.

"While such filters are available abroad for pollen allergies, our product's USP is in the design and its capacity to filter out 95 per cent of 2.5 particulate matter, the most dangerous among pollutants," says Vyas.

With help from co-founders and professors Ashwini K. Agrawal and Manjeet Jassal of the textile technology department, the company has developed a prototype and is set to launch the product in Delhi-NCR by Diwali for Rs 10 a pair. An existing face mask of similar efficiency costs Rs 2,000, Vyas adds.

"The filter will last the wearer up to 12 hours and is biodegradable....After the launch, we plan to leave the incubator to scale up our business," Vyas adds. Nano Clean Global began R&D into the product last year and has been at the incubator since February. It has filed for two patents for the product and its technology.

"IIT has all these instruments and testing facilities which are otherwise expensive for tech startups. Private incubators don't have them, although they excel in the marketing support," he adds. Apart from the tech mentorship, FITT also provides easy access to government funding which are only given to incubators recognised by government, he says.

The startup, which has found seed funding through an angel investor, has also applied for government funding. It has hired five employees. "After the Delhi launch, we will go all out globally. Then, we will go for Series A funding," says Vyas.

FITT CEO KK Roy says they get 50-70 applications from startups every year to enter the incubation programme. "Our capacity is 15-18. We try to map what gap is in the market for the product or service and how meaningful and affordable it can be for a large section of society," he adds.

Roy says funding of Rs 50 lakh, either through private or government sources, is very common. "It can go up to Rs 1 crore, subject to the startup's scaling." He says 30-40 per cent of the incubatees supported by FITT are still in the market in different stages of scaling up