What are a few start-ups that evolved from research labs at IITM?

Research
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Several student-led and professor-led startups have evolved from research labs at IIT Madras. Here are a few of them:

  • Ceratattva Innotech Pvt Ltd was born from the High-Performance Ceramics lab, led by co-founder Prof. N. V. Ravi Kumar, at the Metallurgical & Materials Engineering department at IIT Madras. They focus on developing high-strength and high-temperature ceramic materials for space and refractory sectors. Their customers include Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, the Indian Space Research Organisation, and the Centre For Materials For Electronics Technology (CMET) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. In 2022, they received a ₹1 Million seed grant from the IITM-Incubation Cell.

  • Plansys Technologies, an IITM Incubation Cell deep tech startup, was a spin-out developed by the Centre for Non-Destructive Evaluation (CNDE) at IIT Madras in 2015 by IIT Madras alumni and faculty including Tanuj Jhunjhunwala, Vineet Upadhyay, Prof Prabhu Rajagopal, and Prof. Krishnan Balasubramanian. They provide pioneering cutting-edge technologies across marine robotics, non-destructive testing (NDT) & intelligent data analytics & reporting. They raised ₹1.75 crore through angel investment and developed multiple products in its first year. They recently secured a ₹43 crore equity infusion led by renowned investor Ashish Kacholia.

  • The ePlane Company, founded by Prof. Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy of the Aerospace Engineering department at IIT Madras, was incubated at the IITM Incubation Cell in 2019. They aim to develop India’s first compact flying electric taxi for intra-city commutes and cargo transport. After receiving the Design Organisation Approval (DOA) from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in 2023, they recently launched India’s first electric flying taxi prototype.

  • NeoMotion, incubated at IITM Incubation Cell, is led by Prof. Sujatha Srinivasan, the head of the TTK Center for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development (R2D2) at IIT Madras. They have developed ‘Arise,’ India’s first manual standing wheelchair, and NeoBolt, the country’s first motorized add-on for wheelchairs. They recently launched an electric standing wheelchair ‘NeoStand’, a compact standing wheelchair, equipped with easy-to-use navigation for its motorized standing mechanism.

  • Mindgrove Technologies, incubated at IIT Madras’ Pravartak Technologies Foundation is a chip-design startup that is the first to have designed, owned, and marketed a microprocessor chip from India. It is set to be out in the open market and will soon power smart electronic devices.IITM director V Kamakoti, who was behind India’s first open-source microprocessor chip Shakti, is a mentor to Mindgrove’s founders.