The changemakers: Start-up founders and their hardwork

Five startups incubated at IIT Bombay focus on innovative diagnostics, structural health monitoring, climate-tech cooling systems, defense products, and railway safety.

Rheoheme Diagnostics

Siddharth Tallur, professor from the electrical department, worked along with students from other departments as well as Phd scholars to make structural inspections easy and reliable. The team innovated a portable drive to scan damages to concrete structures. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Founder: Professor Mahesh T

The startup was founded by Mahesh T, head of the department of chemical engineering, to offer accurate information of blood diagnostics from a single drop of blood. Rohini Singh, a member of the team said, “We are building a scalable, diagnostic platform designed to decentralise laboratory testing and minimise the multiple devices load. Using smear-based and low-reagent methodologies, our devices can perform multiple diagnostic assays from a single drop of sample on a single device.”

The startup is set to enter the market with blood-based tests including haemoglobin measurement, sickle cell detection and viscosity analysis, with a clear roadmap to expand into high-value diagnostics such as coagulation, glucose, HbA1c, and infectious disease testing across multiple body fluids.

Incubated: In 2025. It presently operates from IIT Bombay campus.

Albatross Energetics

Founders: Harish S, Sudarshan MS, Shrihari B

Five years ago graduates from IIT Bombay and IIT Madras pooled their talents to form Albatross Energetics, a climate-tech startup focused on reimagining how cooling and dehumidification systems are designed, delivered and experienced in a rapidly warming world.

Although the research started during their postgraduate studies in 2023, the team associated with SINE following which the company embarked on research and making prototypes of liquid desiccant systems for air dehumidification. Harish S, head of research, said, “We are focusing on independently managing moisture, with systems that significantly reduce energy consumption while delivering tighter humidity control and improved air quality that is critical for industries such as pharmaceuticals, food processing and electronics manufacturing.”

He added that SINE will help bridge the gap between investors and startups and also train the team to build their company.

Incubated: In 2021. After incubation they have started making prototypes and meeting Industry experts.

Combat Robotics

Founder: Ganesh Suryawanshi.

Pune-based engineering graduate Ganesh Suryawanshi joined IIT Bombay’s SINE through a special initiative called Plug-In, designed for non-IIT students. His startup, founded in 2015, became part of SINE in 2018. Since then, SINE has invested in the company, recognising its focus on developing defence-related products. During the research phase, Yuvraj Karoshi, who is also an engineer joined Suryawanshi and is now the co-founder of the company.

Suryawanshi said that the team is building surveillance products for defence use, adding that the company has also developed a stretcher system to transport injured soldiers safely from the battlefield to base camps. To achieve this, the company has regularly interacted with retired army personnel to better understand real challenges and find practical solutions. This helped them design a range of useful defence products. In addition to defence work, the startup has also developed a railway track monitoring system to improve safety and efficiency.

Incubated: In 2018 under Plug-in programme of SINE. They have started lab testing.