Pentavalent Bio Sciences Emerges Winner of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2016-17

• Fifth edition of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge attracted 214 impact proposals

• Grand-finale recognized India’s most promising early-stage social ventures

Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2016-17, a joint initiative of the Tata group and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C), celebrated India’s most promising early-stage social enterprises, which could bring about long-term solutions to India's social needs.

Members of Pentavalent Bio Sciences Private Limited, winner of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2016-17, receiving prize money from Mr. Harish Bhat, Brand Custodian, Tata Sons

 The grand finale of the fifth edition of the programme held on January 14,  2017, at the Indian  Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C), saw  Pentavalent Bio Sciences Private Limited from  Bangalore (Winner), Arogya  Medtech Pvt. Ltd. From Kolkata (1^stRunner-up), and Bombay  Hemp  Company Pvt. Ltd (BOHECO)from Mumbai (2^ndRunner-up), emerge as the  winning  ventures, receiving prize money of Rs. 2.5 lakh, Rs. 2 lakh and Rs.  1.5 lakh, respectively  (detailed profiles attached in Annexure 1).

 This year’s edition received over 600 registrations from across India, out of  which 214 met all the  eligibility criteria and moved to the next round of the  competition. These impact proposals were  in the area of agriculture, food  and dairy; healthcare, water and sanitation; technology and  development;  education & skills development; housing; handicrafts; and energy and  microfinance/financial inclusion, among others. The ventures were judged  on three parameters  – Business Model, Social Impact and Sustainability.

 The Top 20 teams were mentored by Startup Wave Platform, Unitus Seed Fund and pool of  mentors from IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. The Social VC partners of the initiative were Villgro,  Intellecap, Ankur Capital, Yunus Social Business, Unitus Seed Fund and Ennovent. The teams  also had an opportunity to network with mentors, experts and fellow social entrepreneurs.

Apart from the Top 3 winning ventures, the 7 ventures that have made it to the Top 10 finalists are:

1. Genrich Membranes Pvt. Ltd., Pune

2. Aavishkar, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh

3. ONganic Foods, Kolkata

4. ClassIQ Educational Foundation, Kolkata

5. Scidogma Research, Bangalore

6. Lumisoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore

7. Saathi Eco Innovations Pvt. Ltd., Ahmedabad

(Detailed profiles of the ventures are attached in Annexure 1).

Pentavalent Bio Sciences Private Limited, winner of the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2016-17, is a Bangalore-based social enterprise. Pentavalent Bio Sciences is a fully integrated biotech start-up that provides innovative solutions from discovery to development, leveraging cutting-edge science, cost effective molecular diagnostics and new ideas and technologies in the diagnostics market.

They are currently developing an innovative diagnostic tool using novel in-house FlapCut technology that detects tuberculosis (TB) in patients and helps doctors to prescribe patient-specific antibiotics for treatment.

Ecstatic with her win, Bhavani PV said, “This exposure was really required. The Jury’s input and mentoring helped us a lot in improving our business model. Initially it was only us who believed in our product, but Tata Social Enterprise Challenge helped us to believe that our product can reach the end user.”

First runner-up Arogya Medtech Pvt. Ltd., a Kolkata based venture, has developed a product called CEREBROS, a low-cost, less resource intensive, portable, radiation free, non-invasive, multi-modal (Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) and Electroencephalography (EEG/EOG)) brain-scanning device in the form a wearable head-gear, optimised using a proprietary embedded system and ‘smart’ algorithms.

Rajib Sengupta, representing the venture, said, “It was an awesome experience. It’s great to know that there is such a great platform in Eastern India for social entrepreneurship. It’s good to see more and more startups in Bengal; a lot of new and innovative startups are coming up and this platform is going to give us the right impetus.”

The second runner-up position was won by Bombay Hemp Company Pvt Ltd. (BOHECO) from Mumbai. Bombay Hemp Company Pvt. Ltd. (BOHECO) is India’s first industrial and medicinal hemp (cannabis) company, established in 2013. Located in Mumbai the company works with Central and State governments to assist farmers to improve their socio-economic standards by utilising cultivation of cannabis for industrial, construction and pharmaceutical purposes.

Jahan Pestonjamas, representing the venture, said, “It was a comprehensive learning experience, the environment was very comfortable and positive. The faculty and academia brought forth the knowledge and experience, and the impact investors who are very relevant to our fields have come into the fore. Also, the fact that that so many varieties of social enterprises have come together on the stage, speaks volumes about the success of the competition as a whole.And of course, it drives us to come back with a new idea and do better.”

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Ashok Banerjee, Director, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, said, “Over the last five years, Tata Social Enterprise Challenge has encouraged many budding entrepreneurs to grow with a vision and create positive sustainable social impact. As we reach this 5-year milestone, we are encouraged with the quality of talent and the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs to make a difference from all across the country and even from overseas. We have also launched, this year, the INVENT programme in association with the Department for International Development (DFID), UK. This 3-year programme, which has a total budget of Rs. 12 crores, aims at providing seed funding support of upto Rs.25 lakhs to for-profit social enterprise start-ups being incubated under this programme.”

Felicitating the winners, Mr. Harish Bhat, Brand Custodian, Tata Sons, said, “Social entrepreneurship provides an opportunity to provide solutions for critical needs being faced by our society through innovation and enterprise. Tata Social Enterprise Challenge took shape five years ago, with the idea of fostering an ecosystem for early stage social start-ups, in line with our ethos of giving back to society and creating sustainable and meaningful social impact. The tangible results seen from the ventures identified, mentored and incubated on this platform, encourage us to strengthen our efforts along with our partner IIM-C, towards creating a meaningful social impact.”

The ceremony saw talks by inspiring leaders in the space of social entrepreneurship like Ms. Poonam Bir Kasturi, Founder of Daily Dump, Mr. Sujoy Santra, CEO of iKure and some of the finalists of the past editions of the challenge including Bodhi Healthcare, ERC Eyecare and Green Agrevolution, among others.

Background on Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2016-17

Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2016-17 kicked-off on August 11, 2016, and invited social entrepreneurs who either had an early stage venture (not older than 3 years) or a promising idea with a plan that could create sustainable social impact in India. Impact Proposals (detailed Business Plans) were invited in the areas of education, health, agriculture, technology, sanitation, and handicrafts, among others. 

The challenge was divided into three rounds:

• Round 1 -  Teams were required to submit Impact Proposals online in the format specified

• Round 2 - Semi-finals: From an initial shortlist of 40 teams, 20 teams were selected to go through a 3-week mentorship programme. These teams pitched to a panel of esteemed judges consisting of social venture capitalists, social entrepreneurs, Tata executives and faculty from IIM Calcutta.

• Round 3 - Grand-finale: 10 teams from the 20 semi-finalists were selected for the Finals and out of these the 3 winning teams were selected by an eminent jury panel.

Background on Tata Social Enterprise Challenge

Tata Social Enterprise Challenge, a unique initiative undertaken jointly by an educational institution and a business group, is a quest to find India’s most promising early-stage social enterprises. It endeavours to create an ecosystem for social entrepreneurship and encourage sustainable, scalable and measurable social impact. Started in 2012, Tata Social Enterprise Challenge received 214 impact proposals this year, and in all over 900impact proposals across the five editions have been received till date.

To expand its reach and impact, Tata Social Enterprise Challenge through its R.A.C.Ecampaign (Roundtables Awareness Challenge Engage) conducts a series of seminars and roundtables across India on the theme of ‘Thinking Social’, bringing together social entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and members from the academia, industry and business from across the country on one platform.

For more details and updates on the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge, please log onto http://www.tatasechallenge.org/

About the Tata group

Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, the Tata group is a global enterprise, headquartered in India, comprising over 100 independent operating companies. The group operates in more than 100 countries across six continents, with a mission 'To improve the quality of life of the communities we serve globally, through long-term stakeholder value creation based on Leadership with Trust'. Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies. Sixty-six percent of the equity share capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts, which support education, health, livelihood generation and art and culture. In 2015-16, the revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $103.51 billion. These companies collectively employ over 660,000 people. Each Tata company or enterprise operates independently under the guidance and supervision of its own board of directors and shareholders. There are 29 publicly-listed Tata enterprises with a combined market capitalisation of about $116.41 billion (as on March 31, 2016). Tata companies with significant scale include Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Teleservices, Titan, Tata Communications and Indian Hotels.

About IIM Calcutta Innovation Park

The IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) is a Section 8 company established under the aegis of IIM Calcutta (IIMC) to promote Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The IIMCIP aims at creating a comprehensive eco-system to promote and nurture innovative enterprises. There are two broad verticals under IIMCIP – Business Incubation Unit and Innovation Lab. The Business Incubation Unit promotes entrepreneurship with a focus on social enterprises and provides an ecosystem where enterprises with innovative ideas can transform into successful business ventures. The Innovation lab promotes Innovation in research and business through industry-academia partnership. The finalists of the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge get an opportunity to pitch for Incubation at the IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. As part of the incubation programme IIMCIP offers dedicated mentorship, funding connects; support services and training program on various aspects of entrepreneurship at IIMC campus.

For further details please visit www.iimcip.org .