Union Minister Shri Giriraj Singh presents awards to the winners of Startup India-Animal Husbandry Grand Challenge

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri Giriraj Singh, was the chief guest at the Awards Ceremony for the winners of “Startup India-Animal Husbandry Grand Challenge” here today. MoS (Fisheries & AHD) Shri Sanjeev Kumar Balyan and Secretary (AHD) Shri Atul Chaturvedi were present on the occasion.

The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, in partnership with Startup India, had launched the ‘Animal Husbandry Startup Grand Challenge’, to scout for innovative and commercially viable solutions to address the problems faced by the Animal Husbandry and Dairy sector. The challenge was launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 11^th September last year at a national animal disease control programme in Mathura.

The challenge was open for application to all startups with unique solutions for six problem statements that were identified as below:

• Value added products: introduce value added dairy products viz. cheese, smoothies, flavoured milk, custard, yoghurt, and other ethnic Indian products using innovative techniques for smaller domestic as well as export markets
• Single use plastic alternatives:using environment-friendly alternatives to replace single-use polythene in dairy sector
• Eliminate milk adulteration:tackling milk adulteration in the dairy sector
• Breed improvement and animal nutrition:use of innovative technologies for quick genetic gain among Indian breeds of cattle and buffalos, and new varieties of green fodder and enriched animal feed
• E-commerce solutions:encouraging innovations to provide modern digital infrastructure and advisory services across the country
• Product traceability:using technologies to track the journey of dairy products from farm to fork

The challenge was open for application to Startups since 11^th of September, 2019 to 15^th of November, 2019 on the Startup India portal – www.startupindia.gov.in. 157 applications were received as below:

These applications were pre-screened to ensure that the information provided by the applicants fulfilled the criteria of application to the programme. A total of 42 startups were shortlisted in the first round of evaluation. These Startups were then given an opportunity to present their ideas over a video conference to an expert panel including members from the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) led by Shri Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, DAHD. These video conferences were conducted in two days, where each selected startup showcased their solution followed by a round of question and answers.

After the second round of evaluation, 2 Startups per problem statement have been selected to receive the cash grants and incubation. However, no Startup could present an innovative and commercially viable solution to the problem statement, Single Use Plastic Alternatives. Again, as mentioned above, 4 Startups have been selected under the problem statement – Breed Improvement and Animal Nutrition – 2 for Breed Improvement and 2 for Animal Nutrition respectively. Therefore, a total of 12 Startups have been selected after the second and final round of evaluation. Details of the 2 Startups selected per problem are as below:

• Value added products: 1. (Winner) Krushak Mitra Agro Services Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai & 2. (Ruuner Up) Studio Carbon, Ahmedabad
• Eliminate milk adulteration: 1. White Gold Technologies LLP, Mumbai & 2. Micro Life Innovations, Chennai
• Breed improvement: 1. Adis Technologies, Belagavi, Karnataka & 2. CisGEN Biotech Discoveries Pvt. Ltd., Chennai
• Animal nutrition: 1. Krimanshi Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Jodhpur & 2. Cornext Agri Products Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad
• E-commerce solutions: 1. MoooFarm, Gurugram, Haryana & 2. AKM Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Cuttack
• Product traceability: 1. EmerTech Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai & 2. NebulARC Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Delhi
• Single use plastic alternatives: None found suitable.

12 Startups given cash grants worth Rs. 1,02,00,000, winners to be provided incubation offers
The 12 Startups mentioned above (2 per problem statement) will be given cash grants worth Rs. 1,02,00,000. Two winners under each problem awarded with cash grants worth

• INR 10 Lakh (Winner)
• INR 7 Lakh (Runner-up)

The winners will be provided incubation offers – the incubator would be responsible for physical incubation of these Startups for upto 3 months, mentor matchmaking, lab facility for POC development, testing facilities, conducting business and investor workshops, and tracking the activities of the Startups for up to 9 months after the completion of the programme.