National Institute of Technology Rourkela’s (NIT-R) Foundation for Technology and Business Incubation (FTBI) centre has selected two start-ups under the entrepreneurs-in-residence (EiRs) programme to support the young start-ups with innovative ideas. Under this programme, FTBI has selected two in-house start-ups, Yarev Technology Pvt. Ltd. and Clavictor Academy Pvt. Ltd., with innovative approaches for the betterment of society at large. The Institute’s objective behind this programme is to support and build a strong ecosystem for Indian start-ups and help realise the vision of the Prime Minister for building an Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Speaking about the selected startups, Prof. Animesh Biswas, Chairman, FTBI, and Director, NIT Rourkela, said, “I feel immensely proud with the innovations created by Yarev Technologies and Clavictor Academy which was done at FTBI-NIT Rourkela. This has taken NIT Rourkela to greater heights. I do believe, soon we would be able to achieve more of such innovations which would also fetch us higher positions in the Atal Rankings of Institutions and Innovation Achievements”

Yarev Technology Pvt. Ltd.

Yarev Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is a start-up incubated by the FTBI that focuses on manufacturing disruptive solutions in the field of home automation, water quality monitoring and water conservation, automated submersible starters, IoT enabled, Automatic Hand Sanitizer Dispenser (Drop and Mist) and Automatic Soap Dispenser. The company’s latest product is Automatic Sanitizer Dispenser (ASAR) which will be a frontline defence in the fight against the pandemic. This is a zero-touch dispenser for soap or hand sanitizer with the price range of Rs. 2000/- to Rs. 7000/-. The start-up has been provided with grant money of Rs. 7 lakh under the ‘Product/Prototyping’ grant by FTBI. The start-up wants to use the fund in development of the new product, R&D of the product and procurement of machines. The start-up is founded by Mr. Avinash Kumar, Founder and CEO, and Ms. Reeya Chaurasia, Co-Founder and COO. Both of them completed their B.Tech from NIT Rourkela.

Clavictor Academy Pvt. Ltd.

Clavictor Academy Pvt. Ltd. aims to provide a better quality of education to the State Board students who are unable to attend the physical lectures. The start-up has developed a mobile application called ‘Clavimate’ to improve students’ understanding of the subjects and perform better in their upcoming board and entrance exams. Mr. Suraj Kumar Nayak, is the founder and CEO of Clavictor Academy Pvt. Ltd. He completed his M.Tech in Biomedical Engineering from the Department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering, NIT Rourkela, in 2015. Currently, he is completing his PhD from NIT Rourkela. For the same, Clavictor Academy Pvt. Ltd. has been provided with a grant of Rs. 4 lakh under the ‘Entrepreneurship-in-Residence’ grant by FTBI for their work. The start-up want to use the grant to upgrade their online education platform to incorporate new features useful for students like the development of student application usage data analytics feature to increase the engagement of the students with the application. They will also use the grant to create animated video lectures for students.

The solution proposed by Clavictor Academy is a personalised, technically enriched and learning platform via mobile application and website for the state board students. The application and website comprise of all the necessary services that a student requires to learn the subject properly so that he/she can perform well in the exam. They also provide animated video as well as live classes for the students so that they can visualise and learn the concepts. Clavictor Academy provides Online doubt clearing facility so that the students can clarify their doubts. Students are also encouraged to appear for the regular assessments so that the academy can check their performance and put more effort into their weak areas. The performance report, as well as the subject matter studied by the student, can be checked by the guardian through a separate platform so that they can get a real-time update of their children’s effort and performance. As most of the state board students belong to the rural areas having low internet speed, the academy has planned an offline mode of study on their application. Currently, Clavictor Academy is catering the needs of the students of 11^th and 12^th standards of Odisha Board. From October 2020, the academy will start online education services for 8^th and 10^th standards of Odisha Board. Since the inception, the company has served the needs of more than 1500 students.

Speaking about FTBI, Dr. Debayan Sarkar, Professor-in-Charge, FTBI, NIT Rourkela, said, “FTBI NIT Rourkela is Section 8 Company, supported by DST and housed at National Institute of Technology, Rourkela. It is one of the fastest emerging incubation centres in western Odisha and aspires to become a hub of entrepreneurial activities. Established in 2016, in four years of journey, it has nurtured several start-ups, mostly founded and run by students and alumni. Some of our notable start-ups include Phoenix Robotix, Estinno Energy, Awalk Innovations, Fastech Fashions and Clavictor Academy. They employ 150+ employees and are expanding their footprint all over the country”

It is notable that both the start-ups will be incubated under this programme for a period of 1 year that can be extended by 6 months upon the steering committee’s approval. Apart from the funding programme, seven other start-ups have been selected for induction at FTBI, NIT Rourkela. The selected start-ups will be provided with office space, manufacturing units and other amenities including IT systems, legal services, mentorship by NIT Rourkela faculty and access to laboratories. The start-ups will also be provided with training in business management and business communication, and tie-ups with chartered accountants and other professional organisations for accounting, IP, legal and management expertise. These start-ups will also be eligible for further rounds of funding under various other schemes and programmes running at the FTBI, NIT Rourkela.