Top 8 Deep-Tech Startups in India

Startups are continuously making noise in every field and India has become the hub of startups. Fintech, digital marketing, cryptocurrency and so many companies related to other industries are now creating buzz all around. Among them Deep Tech is also peeking its head into the startup ecosystem.

Deep-tech, short for ‘Deep Technology’, is solving many real-world problems by developing an innovative idea of technology that can be used to make people’s lives easier. The startups and companies pertaining to deep-tech are based on some substantial scientific advances and high tech engineering innovation. It has gained boom interest from Indian investors and is rapidly growing its market.

Here is a list of Indian startups founded on scientific discoveries and meaningful engineering innovations that are making a big name for themselves:

Genrobotics
Cogknit
Cognitifai
Nautilus Hearing
Streamoid
Desintox Technologies
Photom
Jumper.AI

Genrobotics

Genrobotics is a Kerala-based startup that manufactured a robot – called Bandicoot – which is a spider-shaped robot that cleans sewage and aims to eventually end the barbaric practice of manual. This is a 50-kg pneumatic-powered remote-controlled robot that goes down into a manhole, spreads its expandable limbs like a spider and scoops out the solid and liquid garbage that blocks urban sewers. It has a 360-degree motion robotic arm that can sweep the floor of the manhole to collect the debris in a bucket that cleans the manholes in 20 minutes.

Bandicoot has been deployed in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Gujrat. Genrobotics was launched by engineers Vimal Govind MK, Arun George, Nikhil NP and Rashid Abdulla Khan in 2015. The Bandicoot uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine intelligence (ML) to determine the amount of unclogging needed and can complete the work in 45 minutes, which requires three or four hours of manual labour hours otherwise.

The Manhole Monitoring System (MMS) is also manufactured by Genrobotics. MMS is a complete sanitation solution that monitors the manhole network, it collects the crucial data and processes it using machine learning and AI technology to give an overall idea about the health of the manhole and give an alert when it is getting clogged/overflowing.

G-Robotic Suit, manufactured by Genrobotics is a 10 ft. high robot that can be operated by an individual by placing himself inside. It’s a prototype of the technology that can be used for defence purposes, space applications, weight lifting and anywhere that requires some extra power and protection.

Cogknit

Cogknit Semantics Pvt. Ltd. is an ISO certified innovative product company based in Bangalore. It applies machine learning to text, speech and computer vision. The company's Nimit is a personalized learning platform that uses data science and machine learning algorithms to identify users' learning patterns and user activity to identify user context and deliver content based on the context, enabling them to receive an extended blended learning platform.

Congknit envisions that they are going to tap on the voice-based transactions that are going to disrupt industries. It runs many video content in its stores, and wants to make sure those have scripts that even a visually challenged customer can follow. The startup’s competence and innovation focuses on Semantics, Web 3.0, Big Data, system engineering and associated technologies to solve various market problems.

Cognitifai

Cognitifai is a startup founded by Kanishka Nithin that helps retrieve the exact information using cameras by using a video intelligence platform that uses computer vision to index physical world phenomena. They have specialized in urban monitoring such as surveillance, healthcare and hyper-local intelligence discovery for smart cities and retail enterprises.

Cognitifai can detect even one bottle from the store’s inventory through its computer vision so that the store can replenish the shelf much quicker than depending on a manual store worker to check and fill the stock. Thus enabling real-time intervention to facilitate inventory management.

Cognitifai has founded some products and they are:

• Visionapi.ai is an open marketplace for the state of the art video intelligence use cases and algorithms, enabling diverse enterprises to effortlessly discover, access and consume use cases and algorithms. Focus on Solving your business problem instead of spending all your time researching.
• DevSuite.ai is a suite of intuitive no-code visual modelling tools that supports the full lifecycle of AI algorithm or AI product development - From research to production.
• HPCOS.ai is a fully managed highly parallel and distributed operating system for Training, inferencing and continuous learning of AI at scale. Automating and optimising the end to end operations lifecycle for the deployment of AI at scale. All agnostic to where to run AI and how AI was built. Therefore shrinking your time from months to minutes to production AI at scale.
• Dataplatform.ai is a framework for secure distributed storage, governance and processing of large, multi-source data sets.

Nautilus Hearing

Nautilus Hearing Heath care is a startup founded by audiologist T. Uday Raga Kiran that is accessible and affordable. The startup makes a new kind of hearing care company products using the best technologies to make hearing care simple, accessible and reliable by providing revolutionary technology that opens up new possibilities in audiometric testing.

People often use their hearing aids for short durations and stop using them as soon as they find them unsatisfying. The company has developed a booth-less, portable audiometer that is helping doctors conduct ear tests with ease. Nautilus Hearing is available in two variations.

A diagnostic product for certified healthcare practitioners and a screening device that can be used at schools, colleges, NPOs, and industries with loud machinery and devices. Nautilus Hearing won the Karnataka Government’s ELEVATE 100 Programme, through which it raised an undisclosed round of funding. The startup has completed preliminary tests, and will soon start clinical trials. The team tested the device at the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing in Mysore.

Streamoid

Streamoid is an AI – Artificial Intelligence Stylist founded by Nvidia, Manthani, Rajesh Kumar and Haricharan Lakshman in 2014. Streamoid Technologies uses its expertise in image recognition and extracts product and style information from images and process it through its AI engine to give trendy or contextual and personalized results for fashion shopping.

The startup focuses on the fashion and retail industry. Streamoid understands the natural language, images, voice and the context of the user's fashion query. The users can also interact with it like a highly knowledgeable fashion sales assistant. With the fashion and clothing industry booming more than ever, Streamoid is sure to make a big name soon.

Streamoid gives you, your own conceptualised, developed, hosted and maintained style bot. Streamoid enables you to guide your customers with personalized style advice in a natural conversational interface. Using advanced NLP and deep integration, style bots offer many advantages over human agents. Style bots are online 24x7, can reply instantly to concurrent conversations, deliver personalized support and offer cost savings.

Desintox Technologies

Desintox Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is a Kerala-based startup that was founded by Sooraj Chandran and Don Paul in 2016. Desintox Technologies Pvt. Ltd deals with the design, manufacture and marketing of rehabilitation, and health equipment and currently, has four products called EasyMover, Hoist, Smartmotive and an Electric Wheelchair.

He started working as a design engineer at Crabwrist Technologies. When one of his friends got into an accident, Sooraj realized the need for supporting machines for paraplegic patients. And then, Desintox Technologies was born in Kochi’s Maker Village. The device called ‘Hoist’ transfers the patient from bed, chairs and toilets; it has a leg spreader facility with includes high quality imported motors controlled with a display and safety switch.

Smartmotive is a standing wheelchair that can help paraplegic patients stand and it does so by helping in muscle development and has the benefits of a wheelchair and tilting table. The Electric Wheelchair helps the paraplegic to travel by themselves and can be adjusted with a joystick switch with speed options.

"We gifted the device to help a child in Thrissur. I can never forget the tears in the mother's eyes when she saw her child stand for the first time using our device," says Don Paul.

Photom

Photom Technologies is a startup started by Himmant Singh which was incorporated in 2018. Photom Technologies provides solutions for Operation and Maintenance of renewable energy plants to increase their efficiency. Innovative products and solutions for renewable energy plants are what Photom aims at developing.

Their objective is to be a key stakeholder in establishing the renewable energy sector in India. Photom robots provide a fully dry system that cleans the solar panels without using any chemicals or water and thus can save more money. It is about two to four meters in length.

They are now planning to do pilots in Gujarat and will launch commercially soon. The startup has already received equity seed funding from iCreate. The founder, Himmant Singh, was among the fifteen entrepreneurs from India that were invited by the UK government’s Royal Academy of Engineer for Leaders in Innovation Fellowship.

Jumper.AI

Jumper.ai is an AI-enabled software co-founded by Nyha Shree that helps businesses connect with consumers on social media platforms to purchase their products. With the rise of mobile, social and cloud technologies, customer expectations continue to increase. More than ever, they demand seamless and hyper-personalized experiences.

For many businesses, customer experience is the new battlefield - a competitive advantage that attracts and retains loyal customers. It converts the social media pots into a shop-able post so that when customers comment on your post with their queries, Jumper will automatically answer them and talk to the customers on the company’s behalf and also walk them through the sale right within the platform so that they don’t have to go to another website.

The startup wants to make social commerce easier through hashtags and its artificial intelligence. The information given at the time of payment is secured and tokenized (encrypted by companies like VISA) with the payment gateways. Any company or startup which is regularly using social media as their major acquisition channel can get the utility of the platform.

Conclusion

The world is continuously evolving, thanks to the technology, it is now nothing less of a Sci-fi movie. Deep tech startups are also becoming a big part in the startup ecosystem. In India, some of these startups are already quite popular and are trying their best to offer innovative products and services to the people and solve their problems.

FAQs

What is deep tech?

Deep tech or technology is a types of organisation or startup companies that provides scientific technology based products and services to their customers.

Who founded Jumper.ai?

Jumper.ai was founded by Yash Kotak and Nyha Shree.

Who founded Cognitifai?

Cognitifai was founded by Kanishka Nithin.