SEPTEMBER 20204The ongoing Covid 19 crisis has been an eye opener for us all in more ways than one. One of the most resounding realizations to have come out of the pandemic is that the nation must collectively fortify its defense in terms of healthcare and life science. As the Covid 19 crisis confined most Indians within the confines of their home and mandated that we all maintain physical distance,there emerged various healthcare challenges such as inaccessible physician & diagnostic support and disrupted supply chains among various others. The life science industry also woke up to the realization that critical aspects to fight the pandemic such as drug discovery, releasing self-diagnostics/POC kits, conducting clinical trials and launching therapies required ample time. However, the needs of these solutions is immediate. This is when innovative Indian life science & healthcare startups rose to the occasion and brought to the fore products & solutions that were the need of the hour. While one firm developed smart ventilators that reduced lung damage & sped up its use time; another created a digital advisory platform that connects doctors, social workers & psychologists with patients for support. One corner of the country saw a young startup create solutions to digitally assure sanitation; another saw the development of an AI based automated system that detects the severity of pneumonia due to Covid 19 through X-rays & CT Scan. The key however has been understand the industry's pinpoints and developing cost effective solutions & products to remedy them. While the sector has many a success stories to narrate, Indianlife science startups have also been facing a plethora of challenges over the past years, the primary being lack of funding. July 2020 saw the lowest investment in health tech segment and almost nil funding in the life science sector. Another major challenge holding life science startups back has been the complex regulatory environment. India has several regulators across different ministries looking over the life science sector which is often counterproductive to venture building. The need of the hour is a regulatory overhaul that can promote innovation and speed to market. While challenges are a plenty, the unrelenting Covid 19 crisis also brings with it a host of opportunities that these young life science startups have grabbed by the horns. Next gen technology trends such as AI, Machine Learning, deep learning, NLP, Super Cloud etc will act as catalysts in boosting the future of these innovative life science startups. The current edition of Startup City celebrates such startups and presents to you `10 Best Life science Startups ­ 2020'. Do let us know your thoughts! Rachita SharmaSpecial EditorIndian Covid 19 Fight being Straightened by Life Science Startups EDITOR'S NOTEVisualisers S Sivasankar J Dennis Bennito siliconindia Vol 6 · Issue 03 - 01 · September, 2020 Publisher Alok Chaturvedi Managing Editor Nandini Mukherjee Special Editor Rachita Sharma Editorial Team Aparna Roy Monica Pallavi J Likhith Aradhya Subhadarshini Mohanty Sales & Marketing Ravi Kumar C S Sonia Editorial Queries startupcity@siliconindia.com To subscribe Visit: www.siliconindia.com/subscribe/ Cover price is ` 150 per issue.Printed and Published By Alok Chaturvedi on behalf of SiliconMedia Technologies Pvt Ltd and Printed at Precision Fototype Services at Sri Sabari Shopping Complex, 24 Residency Road Bangalore-560025 and Published At No. 124, 2nd Floor, Surya Chambers, Old Airport Road, Murugeshpalya, Bangalore-560017. Editor Alok ChaturvediCopyright © 2020 SiliconMedia Technologies Pvt Ltd, All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photography or illustrations without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations. Views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the magazine and accordingly, no liability is assumed by the publisher.sales@startupcity.comGroup Art Director Ashok KumarCirculation Manager Magendran PerumalSr. Manager Sales & Marketing Virupakshi Pattar
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