IIT Bombay, the cradle for the best Engineering talent in the country has thrown up a gem in the Medical Technology space. One such ground-breaking technology start up, a future unicorn is Ayu Devices, incubated at IIT Bombay. Initial research and development work happened at Biomedical Engineering Technology Incubation Centre (BETIC) and the company is currently being incubated at the Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SINE), both at IIT Bombay. Additionally, Ayu Devices was also being virtually incubated at the Society for Mumbai Incubation, – Lab to Entrepreneurship (SMILE), the social entrepreneurship incubation arm of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). The company is committed to providing affordable healthcare solutions at affordable prices, with its Digital and Medical Devices and Services.
Ayu Devices broke into the marketplace with their unique ‘AyuSynk’, a Digital Stethoscope as one of its first offering which could be just what the doctor ordered, in these troubled times of the ongoing pandemic. People have spoken about the spread of the virus in waves, which has practically brought most businesses to a grinding halt, whereas Ayu Devices has decided to ride this very wave with their innovative Digital Stethoscope offering. With over 4000 units already deployed across the country in quick time, AyuSynk is flying off the shelf as it is quickly being embraced by medical practitioners, including Doctors, Nurses, and other hospital support staff.
Acknowledging the practicality and the innovation of the AyuSynk by Ayu Devices, Dr. Lancelot Pinto, India’s leading Pulmonologist who was also a part of the development team said, “The AyuSynk by Ayu Devices could be the next big innovation in the healthcare space. A Technology marvel, it is not just a digital stethoscope, but can also amplify sounds and translate them into electronic signals which can be further amplified. This signal can also be displayed as a phonocardiogram on my smartphone or laptop and has the advantage of contactless reading in these times, and data sharing with other doctors.”
As part of the orders procured by the company itself or as a government initiative, Ayu Devices has already reached the country’s leading hospitals like Sir JJ Hospital Mumbai, Nair Hospital Mumbai, KGMC Lucknow, GMC Amritsar, NLJP New Delhi, KEM Hospital Mumbai, Govt. Doon Medical College, spread across the West and the Northern region like Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab & U.P. “AyuSynk offers the dual advantage of covering more number of patients in a shorter period of time, which has helped me become more productive in my practice. The consultative coverage of patients has grown more than three-fold and has helped me scale up revenues many times over”, Dr. Pinto further added.
The company, as a part of various deployment programs also went on to meet and train various doctors and surgeons across districts and rural areas giving them a demo and hands-on training about the device and explaining the difference between a regular stethoscope and AyuSynk digital stethoscope. They have also participated in leading medical conferences like PEDICON and APICON.
Talking about the healthcare situation in India and Ayu Devices, Mr. Adarsha K., CEO & Co-Founder of Ayu Devices Pvt. Ltd. said, “India currently requires around 88,000 cardiologists as against the current number of around 4000 adding a lot of pressure on tertiary centers. We have made a beginning with the deployment of over 4000 devices, and it is giving the local healthcare facilities the advantage of screening over 3X patients, with the added advantage of accuracy and safety for the Doctors and other Healthcare warriors. Apart from the Indian marketplace that has readily accepted our product, we shall soon be making breakthroughs in the overseas markets like the UK and Europe. We foresee growth at the rate of around 20% and will soon have operations in markets like the US and the UK in the next 9 to 12 months.”
Ayu Devices has also been recognised by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India with the CAWACH (Centre for Augmenting War with COVID-19) 2020 Award and the India Innovation Growth Programme 2019. There have also been further recognitions by FICCI (Millennium Alliance COVID Challenge 2020), the Indo-Swiss AIT held at Zurich, Switzerland, by the Swiss and Indian Government in 2018, and the Bombay Management Association also conferred Ayu Devices with the Emerging Startup Award in 2017. The Company further bagged two grants by the Government of India, the BIRAC Fastrack Fund for COVID-19 in 2020, by the Department of Biotechnology, and the Biotechnology Ignition Grant in 2017 by the BIRAC Department of Biotechnology. As per the recent BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council), Govt of India, Ayu Devices is very relevant in the light of attaining the universal health coverage mandate, the three billion target of the World Health Organization (WHO), and the health-related sustainable development goals.
Ayu Devices is currently incubated out of Technoplat – a global venture builder, operating out of London, UK and Singapore. Technoplat, is a global platform established to incubate and grow tech-based scale-ups. Technoplat focusses to strengthen the UK, Asia and Middle East & North Africa corridor, by mentoring scale-ups and talent, and helping them drive innovation across key tech sector. This strategic alliance with Technoplat will help Ayu Devices drive innovation across key technology sectors. Ayu Devices will continue to look at equipping the healthcare workforces in several countries with many such digital and smart, cost-effective innovations.
