‘Startup India-Animal Husbandry Grand Challenge’ Awards

12 Startups are given cash grants worth Rs. 1,02,00,000, winners to be provided incubation offers

Pashu Sandesh, 09 May 2020

Announcement of the Awards for the winners of “Startup India-Animal Husbandry Grand Challenge” was made on 08 May 2020 at New Delhi. Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Giriraj Singh, was the chief guest. MoS (Fisheries & AHD) Sanjeev Kumar Balyan and Secretary (AHD) Atul Chaturvedi were also present on the occasion. Awards were announced in a closed meeting with all the precautions as per the guidelines, in the wake of COVID 19 pandemic.

The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, in partnership with Startup India, had launched the ‘Animal Husbandry Startup Grand Challenge’, to scout for innovative and commercially viable solutions to address the problems faced by the Animal Husbandry and Dairy sector. The challenge was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 11th September last year at a national animal disease control programme in Mathura.

The challenge was open for application to all startups with unique solutions for six problem statements that were identified as below:

•      Value-added products: introduce value-added dairy products viz. cheese, smoothies, flavoured milk, custard, yoghurt, and other ethnic Indian products using innovative techniques for smaller domestic as well as export markets

•      Single-use plastic alternatives: using environment-friendly alternatives to replace single-use polythene in the dairy sector

•      Eliminate milk adulteration: tackling milk adulteration in the dairy sector

•      Breed improvement and animal nutrition: use of innovative technologies for quick genetic gain among Indian breeds of cattle and buffalos, and new varieties of green fodder and enriched animal feed

•      E-commerce solutions: encouraging innovations to provide modern digital infrastructure and advisory services across the country

•      Product traceability: using technologies to track the journey of dairy products from farm to fork

The challenge was open for application to Startups since 11th of September, 2019 to 15th of November, 2019 on the Startup India portal – www.startupindia.gov.in.  A total of 157 applications were received.

These applications were pre-screened to ensure that the information provided by the applicants fulfilled the criteria of application to the programme. A total of 42 startups were shortlisted in the first round of evaluation. These Startups were then given an opportunity to present their ideas over a video conference to an expert panel including members from the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) led by Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, DAHD. These video conferences were conducted in two days, where each selected startup showcased their solution followed by a round of question and answers.

After the second round of evaluation, 2 Startups per problem statement have been selected to receive the cash grants and incubation. However, no Startup could present an innovative and commercially viable solution to the problem statement, Single-Use Plastic Alternatives. A total of 12 Startups have been selected after the second and final round of evaluation. Details of the 2 Startups selected per problem are as below:

• Value-added products: 1. (Winner) Krushak Mitra Agro Services Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai & 2. (Runner Up) Studio Carbon, Ahmedabad
• Eliminate milk adulteration: 1. White Gold Technologies LLP, Mumbai & 2. Micro Life Innovations, Chennai
• Breed improvement: 1. Adis Technologies, Belagavi, Karnataka & 2. CisGEN Biotech Discoveries Pvt. Ltd., Chennai
• Animal nutrition: 1. Krimanshi Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Jodhpur & 2. Cornext Agri Products Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad
• E-commerce solutions: 1. MoooFarm, Gurugram, Haryana & 2. AKM Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Cuttack
• Product traceability: 1. EmerTech Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai & 2. NebulARC Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Delhi
• Single-use plastic alternatives: None found suitable.

The 12 Startups mentioned above (2 per problem statement) will be given cash grants worth Rs. 1,02,00,000. Two winners under each problem awarded with cash grants worth

• INR 10 Lakh (Winner)
• INR 7 Lakh (Runner-up)

The winners will be provided incubation offers – the incubator would be responsible for physical incubation of these Startups for up to 3 months, mentor matchmaking, lab facility for POC development, testing facilities, conducting business and investor workshops, and tracking the activities of the Startups for up to 9 months after the completion of the programme.