i4 Mentors Foundation

Increasing the Odds of Surviving a Heart Attack from 20% to 80%

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 07:52:03 -0700

💓 "What if a simple scan could flip the odds of surviving a heart attack from 20% to 80%?"

In India, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death, claiming lakhs of lives each year—not because we can’t treat heart attacks, but because we detect them too late.

It’s this mission that drives Tricog Health, a deep-techstartup born from a cardiologist’s heartbreak and hope. Dr.Charit Bhograj, an interventional cardiologist, witnessed too many patients arrive too late just because diagnosis failed them. That urgency sparked Tricog in 2014 to build a platform where AI, cloud technology, and human expertise converge to turn cardiac diagnosis into a real-time, life-saving service.

🩺 The Bottlenecks

Delayed detection of critical heart issues

Limited ECG access in rural or primary care settings...Read More

Just 9 Microliters of Blood

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 11:36:54 -0700

When Dr.Matthew J. Baker saw how late-stage cancer diagnoses devastated families—simply because early detection was too late, too costly, or too complicated—he set out to rewrite the rules.
Not with painful biopsies or multi-week waits.
"But with light, data, and a single drop of blood".
That mission became Dxcover, a University of Strathclyde spin-out pioneering early cancer detection using a revolutionary platform: PANAROMIC™. Developed by Dr. Baker’s team, PANAROMIC™ analyses patient samples through infraredspectroscopy, decoding the tiniest molecular signals of cancer—beforesymptoms appear.
✅Onetest. One day. One small blood sample. Nosurgery. No radiation. No delay.
With just 9μL of blood, Dxcover’s AI-powered spectroscopy reads the full biochemical finger print—proteins, lipids, metabolites—and delivers results in under 24 hours.
How itworks:
🧪Patient → 9μL blood → AI Algorithm → Disease Prediction
🕐All under 24 hours.
🌍Validated across 10+ cancer types including brain, ovarian, colorectal, and pancreatic.
Butwith every innovation, come obstacles. Convincing the world that a droplet of blood could reveal cancer took bold validation, regulatory rigor, and scientific grit. So, they proved all their claims to be true with valid evidence:
📈 Screened Over 9,000 patients
🧬Generated Read More

“A Cough at Midnight"

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 05:46:58 -0700

For many patients with chronic respiratory conditions, danger doesn’t knock—it creeps in
silently, often during sleep. When Mikesh Udani noticed how unpredictable night-time asthma attacks could be for children and elderly patients, he knew conventional care wasn’t enough. These people needed something better—something proactive.
In 2016, Albus Health began developing an intelligent, contactless device that could monitor a patient’s respiratory symptoms all night—without needing any wires, wearables, or behaviour change. They developed a smart bedside monitor that passively tracks coughing, wheezing, breathing patterns, and environmental triggers while patients sleep. All this data is sent to the cloud, giving
doctors critical insights without disrupting a patient’s life.
Their vision was to make continuous respiratory monitoring as easy as breathing. The
device had several features:
📡 Contactless and passive—no need to wear anything.
💤 Designed to work while you sleep.
📊 AI-powered for predictive insights on asthma, COPD, and more.
Like every health-tech journey, Albus Health faced resistance and complexity at every
stage:
They partnered with major pharma companies to run trials and gain traction. One of their earliest validations came from Innovate UK and NIHR, both of whom supported Albus through grants and pilot programs in hospitals.
Their device began proving lifesaving in patients with asthma, COPD, and even post-COVID complications—where symptoms could spike unpredictably.
Their mission attracted a powerful ecosystem of backers and believers.
🌱 Oxford University...Read More

A Scan Saved a Life—And Sparked a Startup

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 02:35:56 -0700

“A Scan Saved a Life—And Sparked a Startup That Could Save Millions”
When Dr.Geetha Manjunath witnessed the tragic loss of a young woman to late-stage breast cancer—despite having no symptoms or family history—something changed. What felt like a personal heartbreak turned into professional purpose. At the time, she was a tech leader at Xerox Research, but that moment became the spark for NIRAMAI: Non-Invasive Risk Assessment with Machine Intelligence.
Founded in2016, Niramai set out to address a massive gap in healthcare—accessible,affordable, and radiation-free early detection of breast cancer, especially for women under 45, where mammograms often fail. The result was Thermalytix—a first-of-its-kind AI-powered thermal imaging platform.It’s non-contact, pain-free, and detects tumours up to 5x smaller than manual exams. Simple, safe, and scalable—it’s now in over 20 countries and deployed across India, from major hospitals to remote wellnesscamps.
“Every Innovation Faces Resistance”
Despite a breakthrough innovation, the road ahead wasn’t smooth. Niramai’score technology was developed inside Xerox. To take it forward independently, Geetha needed to secure the IP rights—a bold move for any early-stagefounder. Within three months, backed by pi Ventures, Ankur Capital, AxilorVentures, and 500 Startups, they closed their seed round and took fullcontrol of their platform.
Then came the real test: proving clinical credibility in a cautious, regulation-heavy industry. Partnering with top hospitals across India, Niramai conducted extensive trials and published peer-reviewed research—earning trust from sceptical radiologists and accelerating adoption. But building AI for healthcare isn't just about accuracy—it’s about resilience....Read More

Role of Technology to Reduce the Cost of Healthcare

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 23:42:08 -0700

“PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE” is a known fact and the Nasscom-Kantar report cites how AI is revolutionising Indian healthcare and enabling it. There is an urgent need in India to reduce cost of healthcare as studies estimate around 55–63million Indians are pushed into poverty each year due to medical expenses. In India, over 65% of total health spending is paid out-of-pocket by patients, resulting in millions of families facing financial hardship. Early detection of diseases saves costs and lives of humans and many studies have demonstrated that globally:

▪ 2025 study published in the National Library Of Medicine reveals that early diagnosis of functional motor disorders (FMDs) reduced direct costs by 67%, from an average of €4,467 to €1,461, and hospitalization costs fell from €2,618 to €492.
▪ “India is the fourth largest automobile market in the world, imports more than $ 100 bn worth of oil every year and has some of the most polluted cities in the world. Adoption of Electric Vehicles in India is therefore, a strategic imperative and a foregone conclusion.
An electric powertrain is fundamentally superior to an internal combustion engine. An ICE burns fuel and a large portion of the energy released is lost as heat. An EV also scores over the ICE in faster acceleration for speeds that matter, does not require a transmission system and is better aligned to future trends such as self-driving. The ICE remains ahead on two key parameters – Range and Refuelling (Charging) time, a solution to which may permanently transform the auto industry across the world. Volvo has already announced that it will stop making ICE engine by 2025
More than 80% of vehicles sold in India are 2W/3Ws, which are easier to electrify and are likely to lead EV adoption in India. This, in itself, is likely to be a $ 20 bn market opportunity for India by 2025.
EV adoption in India shall be influenced by:
Policy – The FAME -II scheme has mandated adoption targets and has provided tax and duty concessions etc. It has also laid down a framework to set up the charging infrastructure and develop the EV ecosystem across the country.
Storage Technology – The battery constitutes about 40% of the cost of the vehicle and lies at the core of two continuing drawbacks of EVs over ICEs: Range and Recharging. Li-ion is the most mature battery technology currently and is likely to remain the mainstay of EV batteries for the next 5-10 years. Technological innovations in Battery Management Systems can vastly increase the battery life, improve safety features and deliver superior performance. Ongoing innovations and localization in Motors,...Read More

'99 Ways to Die' for a Startup

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 01:09:50 -0700

This is not a statement of doom and darkness. Its just math.
Everyone these days has a startup idea. All of them have one dream. My startup is the next killer app and I will be really really rich, soon. But before you jump on the bandwagon, do read.
Good data is hard to come by. But estimates are that only 1 in 10 startups get an angel/ seed round of funding. Out of these only 1 in 10 make through Series A,B,C funding. Do the math. Just 1 in 100 startups make it to the series rounds, leaving the rest 99 in the elephant graveyard. Only a tiny fraction of the funded 1% ever hit the Unicorn stage and rarer still are the ones that get a successful IPO. The data could vary depending on who you believe. Either way, only a tiny fraction ever get to a stage of funding where the startup can build a serious business. The game only works if few survive. Only then can they get the dizzying valuation. It is in the interest of the investors to pick just a few winners and leave the rest to their fate. These winners and their investors create such a hype that everyone is forced to say 'hey I am missing out, I want in'. Everyone wants to be in that Casino.
There is also a lot of good that is coming about with this gold rush. A lot more people are looking at a lot more problems in the world to solve. A lot more minds are getting connected. A lot of fundamental business paradigms are being questioned. A lot more enterprise.
But what of the Club 99 and all those associated - founders, workers, early investors, families, vendors etc. What are they supposed to do? They have sacrificed time, money, opportunity and relationships to chase a dream which turned into a nightmare. Their livelihood cannot be just brushed away in words like 'boom and bust cycle', 'down rounds', 'winner takes all' and any other term used frequently...Read More

Why Innovation is Imperative for Small Businesses!!

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 01:03:12 -0700

There is a saying ‘there is no time like now’. The current health scare and the resultant economic crisis is worse than anything else in human memory. This is going to have serious repercussions for all businesses in the short term but will also lead to significant fundamental shifts in the long run.
But, the winds of change are not new. There has been a virtual blood bath going on in global economy and corporate world in the last 2 decades. Long-standing companies are fast going extinct. Digital Technology is taking over everything.
I firmly believe that unless every business adopts a path to innovation and embraces digital technology, they shall not survive very long.
Innovation. Disruption. These are the biggest buzzwords in the last few years. Early on, companies in high technology domain used to talk about innovation. Today almost every large corporation prides itself in its innovation programs. We see an endless stream of new products and services hitting the market.
There is an inherent advantage a small business, a SME or a startup has over large corporation when it comes to innovation. They are agile and flexible. Decision making is usually simpler and quick and their survival instinct inherently makes them sensitive to early results.
Innovation challenges all aspects of business.
Business model – Redefining what a company’s business model is, and what it ought to be, can make a significant difference to the future. Many new age businesses work with asset light, people light, low investment models that have reached large scale. It is important to view your business from a consumer perspective rather than product perspective. A company that defines itself as a manufacturing company will always be driven by their...Read More

Electric Dreams

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 00:55:15 -0700

There is no technology trend stronger than the shift away from bio fuels to electrically driven vehicles. Companies across the world are racing rapidly to make the electric dream a reality. Mega battery plants are being built. Alternate methods to generate electricity – wind and solar are attracting billions of dollars. Battery technology research is at its peak, to consistently improve capacity yet reduce cost. In 3~5 years, the equation of battery capacity and cost will start comparing with ICEs. Coupled with the fact that it costs only a fraction of fuel cost to operate a electrically driven vehicle, we can safely assume that we are close to hitting an inflexion point in EVs. Search for alternate and clean technology for electric production and storage would continue unabated, driving costs down and capacity higher.
Electric vehicles are also likely to be more reliable and require less maintenance. An EV would require fewer mechanical parts and do away with the messy bits. This would further reduce cost of ownership and roadside breakdowns.
But to make it a reality an entire ecosystem of fuel generation to distribution to charging points to battery technology and manufacturing has to come up in a short span of time to replace the vast infrastructure built by the petroleum economy. Installing the alternate infrastructure required to propel the electric economy would create large business opportunity for many future entrepreneurs. From manufacturing of batteries, motors, vehicles, charging stations…to service providers to distribute, service and enable electricity.
However, electric vehicles would pose questions of their own.
Is the alternate energy source used to generate electricity clean compared to fuel? Coal based power is likely to just shift pollutants form one location to another.
What waste disposal threat would batteries pose in the future?
Are the electric grids ready to bear the additional surge in demand from...Read More

A Nudge Well Taken Leads To Funding Success

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 00:48:59 -0700

The book ‘Good to Great’ talks about ‘the flywheel effect’. It is described as a situation in a Company where subsequent CEOs/leaders push the Company further in the direction of growth, creating sustainable growth momentum, by choice of a Strategy that the Company persists with making suitable changes with time. Something similar played out at the Joint mentoring session of IIM, Bangalore with IIT, Delhi where several mentors and start-ups had congregated for the Common pitching session. This is a session where Start-ups incubated at either FITT, IIT, Delhi or NSRCEL, IIM, Bangalore make a pitch with the aim of getting an assessment from a diverse group of mentors. Mentors at this forum are typically Alumni of these institutes who have industry experience and as a result have a closer view of industry ‘problems that need a solution’.
Ubifab was a Stratup being incubated at FITT, IIT Delhi. Started by two young Textile Engineers who had developed this technology that could impart three important characteristics to a wide range of textiles. These three traits being a) Self Cleaning of Organic stains when exposed to Sunlight for three hours b) UV protection c) Anti-Microbial and Anti-Odour. They had a patent for the process. The Market they were trying to address was ‘Fashion Garments’. They were also being guided by a Professor with interest in the domain. The Start-up met with early success when several suppliers to high end brands were willing to use that technology for their supplies to their Customers. However, since there was not much demand for this kind of product with the end use Market not yet developed, these suppliers were not willing to pay much money to Ubifab. That was the challenge!
I had witnessed a large demand for use and throw linen in Hospitals, when the Government of India had launched the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana(RSBY),...Read More