et Startup Awards 2022 Best on Campus: ET Startup Awards 2022: Solinus Wins Best in Campus Category | Tech Reddy

The ten-member ET Startup Awards jury deliberated before selecting Solinus Integrity, whose robotics solutions help eliminate manual scavenging, as this year’s winner in the Best Campus category.

After two rounds of deliberations and voting, Solinas ClaimBuddy, a Gurgaon-based mediclaim support startup, lauded the efforts of the IIT Madras-incubated deep-tech startup in close competition with the jury on what they said was a huge problem in India.

One jury member said, “People’s lives are being lost cleaning sewers… it’s a big problem that needs to be solved”.

Founded in 2018, Solinus develops robotic solutions for the pipeline and sanitation industries, tackling leaks and eliminating manual scavenging. It focuses on short-range and long-range pipeline inspection and robotic cleaning of septic tanks.

“It’s really a campus startup… a student working with his professor to solve a problem has a clear impact on a social problem like manual scavenging,” said one of the jury members.

Solinas’ products have been deployed in multiple cities including Coimbatore and Chennai and are showing a strong impact in terms of savings (600,000 liters saved per km visited) as well as reduction in manual labour.

Sanjeev Bikhchandani, co-founder jury member, InfoAge, said, “Sanitation workers clean drains at great personal risk and every few months one or two of them die doing their job. “Saving lives is more important than any financial return,” he added, justifying the jury’s decision to choose Solinas over Clembuddy.

Clambody, a health insurance claims support company that works with patients and hospitals, jurors felt it was tackling a real challenge that would compound over the next few years, giving the company a long runway.

“This award recognizes and validates our efforts and our business idea… We are on our way to expand our business in parts of Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar and received the Best Campus Award at the ET Startup Awards. Our strong credibility as we build our partnership,” said Divanshu Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of Solinus Integrity.

The idea for Solinus came in the final years of a project that Kumar worked on with his professor Prabhu Rajagopal. Seeing the plight of manual scavengers, they decided to build a robot. Within 10 months, they were able to design and develop a prototype that won the Best Masters Project at IIT Madras.

The startup now has six people sharing the lead – Kumar, Bhavesh Narayani, Mainak B, and Linda Jasline along with teachers Rajagopal and Krishnan Balasubramanian.

The startup is looking to leverage its talent in software and electronics as it seeks to improve its city-based dashboard where pipeline data can be fed for greater ease of data-driven decision-making. It is looking to hire for sales and business development roles.

Solinas recently closed a seed funding round of Rs 4.5 crore with investors including 8x Ventures, Lister Ventures and Weizmann Group’s Kota Enterprises.

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other competitors

Claim friend Khet Singh and Ajit Kumar Patel

What it means: ClaimBuddy’s digital infrastructure helps hospitals streamline their financial and operational processes It enables hospitals to process claims and helps patients pay maximum claims. The startup provides technological and financing solutions to hospitals and doctors that it claims, improve their operational and financial efficiency by at least 30%.

Sanfe | Archit Aggarwal and Harry Sehrawat

What it means: Sanfe is an internet-first brand offering feminine hygiene products. It combines consumer insights in areas such as women’s fitness, body concerns, shaving and hair removal. It then develops products around these insights and rapidly scales them using D2C channels.

Nephew
Neelkanth Bhanu Prakash, Prachotan DL, Krishnakanth JSS, Alluru Uday Kiran and Srinivas Jonnalgadda

What it means: Bhanju is a global math learning platform that aims to eradicate math phobia and change the way students understand the subject. It seeks to encourage careers in math and STEM fields and also aims to introduce students to science, coding and AI through the lens of math.

Vecros Besta Prem Sai, Sai Hanish Allu (former co-founder), and Rajeshree Deotalu

What it means: Vecros, a robotics company founded by IIT Delhi alumni, makes drones for aerial exploration. Vecros has patented a design for its indigenous drones and intends to expand these capabilities to disrupt ways to inspect critical infrastructure. It is also developing legged robots for indoor, on-ground inspections.