Zone Startups India is a startup accelerator accredited by NSTEDB, under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. Hemant Gupta, Managing Director, Zone Startups India explains how COVID-19 has accentuated the dire need for health innovation and the role of health and pharma startups in the battle against the pandemic. He also outlines how startups need to adapt and transform to not only tide over these tough times but also emerge stronger, in an exclusive interview with Lakshmipriya Nair
What have been the most significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on India’s startup ecosystem?
I believe that in order to understand the impact of the pandemic on India’s startup ecosystem, you actually need to separate the pandemic and the lockdown. While the two are interlinked in many ways, the pandemic is a long-term phenomenon, the lockdown is a short-term one.
Let us look at the lockdown first – amongst the wide-ranging impacts has been the sledgehammer blow that has been dealt with the revenues and growth trajectories of startups in sectors as diverse as travel and tourism, hospitality, manufacturing, logistics, food etc. etc.. An estimated 60 per cent of startups in the B2C space are facing the threat of closure. Amidst the doom and gloom, there are startups that have benefitted also, such as two of our portfolio startups – Dozee (contactless patient monitoring) and Sagar Defence (surveillance drones and smart face shields).
The pandemic is a completely different kettle of fish, it is changing the way we live, interact, travel, work, celebrate, relax – the list goes on and on. It is forcing everyone in the ecosystem to relook at the way they operate. Startups are relooking at their business models and ways to pivot to stay relevant and grow. Incubators like us are moving to online incubation, which is actually helping us increase our reach. Investors are going back to their investment theses and reviewing it in light of the “new normal”.
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Due to the overall uncertainty, there are far fewer transactions also happening, and the ones that are happening are smaller in size, March saw 34 deals valued at $354 million, compared to 46 deals valued at $714 million in February.
A recent NASSCOM report highlights that 90 per cent tech start-ups in India are facing a decline in revenues. But, haven’t pharma and healthcare startups or those which are closely allied with these sectors bucked this outcome? How have they fared?
You are absolutely right. Not just in India, but globally there are several sectors that have done well, either as a direct consequence of the pandemic or as indirect consequences.
The direct beneficiaries are, as you say, pharma and healthcare and the ones that are allied to these two sectors. A lot of credit goes to the founders of the startups in these sectors who have risen to the challenges of the pandemic and morphed their products and services to suit the new environment. Apart for Dozee and Sagar Defence, there are dozens of other examples – Ethereal Machines and Big Bang Boom have been trying to fix the shortage of ventilators; Helyxon and MedloTek Health have developed innovative solutions to increase the number of hospital beds; Staqu, Adverto, Pulse Active Stations and Intugine are offering monitoring solutions and of course Mylab, a molecular diagnostics startup is working on low-cost PCR kits that speed up the detection process.
Source: Express Healthcare
