DPIIT, Thermo Fisher Partner To Support 500 Biotech Startups

03 Oct 2025 CW Team

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Thermo Fisher Scientific (TFS) to accelerate innovation in India’s biotechnology sector and build a strong pipeline of high-growth startups.

The partnership aims to support more than 500 biotech startups over the next three years through strategic advisory, access to technology, mentorship, and investor connections. Under Startup India’s Bharat Startup Grand Challenge (BSGC), TFS will launch the BioVerse Challenge, a nationwide platform to identify and nurture India’s most promising biotech entrepreneurs, and the BioVerse Mentors Circle, offering technical training and skills development at leading bio-incubators.

Through the initiative:

The BioVerse Challenge will identify and support 100 high-potential biotech startups with intensive mentorship, subsidised R&D access, and investor connect.
The BioVerse Mentors Circle will guide and train an additional 400 startups in advanced biotech practices and entrepreneurship.
A BioVerse Alumni Network will provide long-term mentorship, coaching, and funding opportunities.

Sanjiv, Joint Secretary, DPIIT, said the collaboration combines Thermo Fisher’s global expertise with Startup India’s strong innovation ecosystem to create opportunities for early-stage biotech entrepreneurs and strengthen India’s bioeconomy.

Srinath Venkatesh, Managing Director, India & South Asia, Thermo Fisher Scientific, added that the BioVerse Challenge would help startups move “from prototype to product faster” through access to technologies and guidance, including at TFS’s upcoming facilities in Genome Valley, Hyderabad.

Thermo Fisher’s expertise in life sciences research, diagnostics, and biotechnology, combined with Startup India’s innovation network, is expected to strengthen India’s position as a global hub for biotech innovation.

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