Three Startups from Kerala win National Startup Awards

Our Correspondent

Three startups from Kerala made it to the list of winners of the first edition of National Startup Awards announced on October 6 in 32 categories across 12 sectors.

NAVA Design & Innovation and Genrobotics Innovations, which were incubated by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), were among the awardees along with God’s Own Food Solutions, also from the state.

Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal declared the results at a virtual felicitation ceremony in Delhi. Conceived by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the awards are in recognition of outstanding startups and ecosystem enablers that are building innovative products or solutions.

KSUM said the honours won by the Kerala startups proved the efficacy of the state government’s support to nascent companies showing promise. “The awards have come for their commitment to solve social issues,” KSUM Chief Executive Officer Mr Sasi P M noted. “Such recognitions will inspire more startups to toe similar lines in the future.”

NAVA won the award in recognition of its solar-powered device for toddy extraction. Capable of improving the efficiency of toddy-tapping by 72 times, the device facilitates cutting, beating and collection of the beverage. Its use cuts the number of climbing the palm to a mere three from what is manually 270 over a three-month period. The machine has earned NAVA patent rights in 28 countries where it is being used.

Genrobotics earned recognition for its product named Bandicoot, billed as the world’s first robotic scavenger that cleans manholes and helps stamp out manual scavenging.The 50-kg pneumatic-powered and remote-controlled robot, which was developed in 2018 by fouryoung engineering graduates, can be sent down a manhole, where it would remove sewage by spreading its arm capable of 360-degree motion. Designedwith the help of Google launch pad, Bandicoot is easy to operate, equipped as it is with auser-friendly interface.

The 2015-founded God’s Own Food Solutions won the award in the food-processing sector for its patented green flour product named jackfruit365, which the jury noticed has “streamlined the organized market for Indian Jackfruits”. Having created clinically-proven solutions to control diabetes and reduce chemotoxicity, the product had its test results showing a significant blood-sugar reduction in 996 out of 1,000 patients during 90 days.

The awards were in the sectors of agriculture, education, enterprise technology, energy, finance, food, health, industry 4.0, space, security, tourism and urban services. They are also meant for scalable enterprises, with high potential of employment generation or wealth creation and those demonstrating measurable social impact, the Ministry said.

KSUM is the nodal agency of the Kerala Government for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the State.