Axio Biosolutions Pvt. Ltd. Founder: Leo Mavely Year of Establishment: 2008 Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat Annual Turnover: Rs. 1 crore (average) Team Members: 50 Area: Molecular Therapeutics Academic Background Leo is B.Tech in applied biotechnology (bioengineering) from Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak and has Advanced Diploma in managing technology ventures from Nirmalabs, Ahmedabad Motivation to Pursue Entrepreneurship I always believed in indigenous development of novel healthcare products using biotechnology. While looking at this space in India, I found that advanced woundcare is quite nascent and opportunities to build a world- class brand product brand are abundant. I took a chance during my college days to pursue it and here I am Identification of Business Opportunity An incident triggered my idea for Axio. It was in 2006, when I witnessed a road accident. A bus had hit a motorbike commuter. He was bleeding profusely and I felt helpless, there was nothing I could do to stop it. Luckily I was able to take him to the hospital in time and the victim survived. I started wondering why such a basic need of a product in India that stopped such bleeding. So I started looking at projects at a tech incubator, I wanted to develop a productthat would that stop can high immediately pressure stopbleeding bleeding is not and yet give addressed. the patient I did few some more research, hours ofand a chance was unable to survive. to find I awas product working on biopolymer-based devices during my college degree and decided to pursue the search for the perfect product for a haemostat Portfolio bleeding within just 2-3 mins. It is made utilising a novel biomaterial platform.Axio’s flagship This isproduct based onAxiostat 100% is chitosan a sponge technology like dressing that that works stops on charge interactions between negatively charged blood components and positively charged Axiostat. The moment Axiostat is applied to an open wound, it reacts with the blood and becomes a very sticky substance that clots blood and stops bleeding. Axiostat can be kept on the wound for 24 hours. It absorbs the water to become a gel like substance that can be easily peeled off. Axiostat is currently used in four segments- Emergency, Military, Cardiovascular and Dental 9 Commercialization Strategy Axio products are currently being widely used by military, hospitals, ambulance services, industries and relief aid. Axiostat Military is currently used by defence forces, paramilitary forces and army across India. It is the de-facto product of Indian armed forces and has been proudly part of all recent operations. Axiostat is also exported to 12 countries in Middle East, Africa and Europe. In coming years, we expect Axiostat to be the gold standard to stop any type of bleeding. Axiostat is currently hemostat from India to get USFDA clearance. We have expanded ourawaiting manufacturing USFDA clearance. capacity On to approval,approximate Axiostat 1 million will beunits the annually, first which makes it one of the largest of its kind in the world Products in the Pipeline Axio envisages a future where contemporary knowledge of biomaterials, medicine and engineering will be integrated in designing novel solutions to address the huge unmet need in management of trauma and chronic- infectious wounds Mentors I was fortunate to have smart and well-meaning people to guide and more importantly support me in all endeavours right from the beginning. Dr Amit Asthana (currently Principal Scientist-CCMB) who used to be my professor in college encouraged me to consider becoming an entrepreneur. Dr Madhu Mehta and Mr Thyagrajan Iyer (Founders- icreate, Ahmedabad) were the pillars of support during early days of Axio Critical Areas for Mentorship Ideal mentor is a good sounding board. As an entrepreneur you need few people whose opinion you can trust. I think mentorship is more about trust and support than giving specific inputs. Mentorship for a) finding the right Fundingproduct-market Mobilized fit b) how to hire and retain top talent and c) tracking the right metrics for growth Funds via grants and loans for clinical trials from DST and venture capital investors: a) Accel Partners b) IDG Ventures India and c) GVFL- Gujarat Venture Finance Limited Achievements Our biggest success was when welanded the Indian Armed Forces (IAF) as a customer. A lot of people discouraged us saying IAF don’t purchase Indian products or those manufactured by startups. But now, we are one of few and reputation because a product that can work with startups who sell to them. It gave us a lot of confidence to doctors as well. Axiostat has been granted patent by the Indian armed forces, in the field, gave confidence awards: Indian Patent Office. We have also won the following • Fortune India 40 under 40, 2017 • Winner: Good Samaritan Awards, 2016 10 • Winner: Bioasia Best Emerging Startups, 2016 • Winner: Silicon Valley Challenge Fellow, 2014 • Winner: Anjali Mashelkar Inclusive Innovation Award, 2013 : CNBC Samsung Social Innovation Quotient Award, 2012 • Special Jury Award: IMC Inclusive Innovation Award, 2013 •Entrepreneurial Winner Journey - Nutshell The journey as an entrepreneur comes with ups and downs. But it has been exciting. The mission keeps us awake. Hearing stories from our users on how our product, Axiostat has saved lives, is the most rewarding part of this journey. Entrepreneurship comes with a lot of uncertainty, but it also comes with tremendous responsibility and accountability. In my case, there was an unmet supply for a product that would help millions, and I couldn’t wait to jump in and be a part of that change. Today, 90% of our sales are from the Indian Army. Knowing that we are able to help the nation, it is a huge moment of pride and a milestone for Axio Lessons from the Journey While most startups face funding as a major challenge, I am grateful that it has not been too challenging for us. regulations, which one can follow. So we were forced to look at US FDA and European Union regulations and complyIt was more with difficult that and to hope find thata way Indian through authorities the regulatory will accept network. it. This In bigIndia, lack there of clarity were inno terms clear medicalof approval device and absence of an authority to guide us were major challenges back then when we started in 2008. The situation has When we go abroad or even in Indian markets, the doctors always look up to products developed outside. This perceptiondefinitely improved is changing quite slowly, a bit butnow when from we that deal time. with Another life-saving challenge products, was theit is perceptionalways important of India to as build a brand. out a brand. That’s one reason we have spent quite a bit of time and money in building clinical endorsements. I must admit it would have been much easier if we had any competitor to look up to from India as a brand in medical tenders, are heavily skewed towards the incumbent companies. It takes a lot of persuasion to break into the major tenders,device products. which acts There as a were major also entry procurement barrier for difficulties.startups. Nevertheless, Government there procurement were also procedures, memorable especially milestones along the way that made the journey worth the wait Road Ahead The market for woundcare is at a nascent stage right now; there is a high scope for growth. Globally, we are probably the fourth or fifth company to build a product pipeline for controlling profuse bleeding in trauma. In marketIndia, we being are theabout first $US ones 3 billion. to do so Our and product are very has focussed a potential on making to hit $US this 400 as the - 500 first million intervention in the Indian to bleeding. market. Axio is currently growing around 3x per year and this figure could almost double next year with the global haemostatic The idea is to target every field where there are frequent bleeding hazards. We don’t want to limit ourselves to mighthospitals introduce and battlefields; the product we in aim pharmacies to focus on abroad factories, earlier mines as the and price even points households are much at some more point. attractive. Our goal In India, is to therebring willAxiostat be a indirect everyone’s comparison first aidwith kit, the and low the priced sole productband-aid; to hencebe used we to have stop made bleeding.As a choice for to the stick B2C to marketB2B for we theAdvice moment. for InBudding five years Entrepreneurs we plan to build the brand in a way so as to hit the market with an IPO I would advise them to focus on the journey and not the destination. Starting a new business is not a job, but an adventure. It’s a big step into a new lifestyle. In addition to a good product and business model you have to enjoy working with people and be good at managing and inspiring them. You have to embrace making decisions, set milestones, measure progress, celebrate victories and learn from your defeats. Choose which business model suits your mentality and map out a complete plan. 11 Cardiac Design Labs Pvt. Ltd. Founders: Anand Madanagopal, Sashi Kumar, Mosin Badkar, Praveen L Murthy and Ajax Thomas Year of Establishment: 2011 Location: Annual Turnover: Whitefield, Bengaluru, Karnataka Team Members: 23 Early commercialization phase Area: Medical Diagnostics and Monitoring Academic Background Anand is M.S in software engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and MCA from Vellore Institute of Technology; Sashi is B.E; Ajax is B.Tech in computer science and technology from University of Calicut and M.S in software engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani; Mosin is Diploma in advanced computing, B.E in electrical and electronics engineering; Praveen is B.E in electronics and communication engineering from Bahubali College of Engineering and Diploma in electronics and communication from DRR Govt.