HYDERABAD: A startup incubated in Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad — BeAble — has won Rs 25 lakh funding at the ‘Open Innovation Challenge 2019’ of the India Innovation Growth Programme (IIGP) 2.0.
Supporting the ‘Start-up India’ and ‘Make in India,’ IIGP 2.0 works to enhance the Indian innovation ecosystem by enabling innovators and entrepreneurs through the distinct stages of ideation, innovation and acceleration to develop technology-based solutions for the future. More than 1,600 applications were received from all over the country for the challenge.
BeAble Health will use the seed grant to support it's market penetration and scale-up its operations. The startup is a spinoff from the first batch of Fellowship in Healthcare Entrepreneurship at Center for Healthcare Entrepreneurship (CfHE) - IIT Hyderabad.
‘ArmAble’ is BeAble Health’s first product and is aimed at solving the pressing need for intensive, engaging and regular rehabilitation therapy for the upper limb. It is aimed at conditions such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, fracture and frozen shoulder.
Highlighting the importance of the seed grant for the startup, Habib Ali, a biomedical engineer and a CfHE Fellow who co-founded BeAble, said, “We aim to deploy around 100 devices in the coming year; this involves both sales and rent. This will allow us to deliver more than one lakh hours of therapy, thereby impacting the lives of many.”
ArmAble provides rehabilitation therapy for the upper limb through interactive and fun games, which motivate users towards therapy. Currently, the company is preparing to sell the devices to hospitals, physiotherapy clinics and rehabilitation centres as well as to individual customers on a rental basis.