DBT launches BIO-NIVESH, a strategic platform for biotech innovation & investment engagement
The event featured a Startup–Investor Connect session that facilitated direct interaction between 20 high-potential biotechnology/deep-tech startups and investors
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) launched BIO-NIVESH as a strategic platform for sustained engagement between biotechnology startups/innovators, investors, industry and other relevant ecosystem stakeholders. India’s bioeconomy, valued at over $195 billion, up from roughly $10 billion in 2014, is being positioned by the government as one of the country’s core growth engines, with a target of $300 billion by 2030.
The launch of BIO-NIVESH, with the aim of strengthening the interface between innovation and investment, marks an essential step towards realising the Prime Minister’s vision of a Viksit Bharat powered by science, technology & innovation.
The inaugural edition of BIO-NIVESH was held on 3 September 2026 in New Delhi, in the gracious presence of the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh, bringing together 20 high-potential biotechnology and deep-tech startups and 50 curated investors.
Over the years, BIRAC has played a catalytic role in building India’s biotechnology innovation ecosystem, supporting innovators in their journey from early-stage ideas and proof-of-concept towards technology development and commercialisation. BIO-NIVESH, featuring 20 startups drawn from this ecosystem, builds on that momentum by addressing the next critical transition: connecting innovation with private investment and scale.
BIO-NIVESH brings the innovation and investment communities closer, enabling them to better understand each other’s perspectives and priorities, and facilitating the flow of private capital, strategic partnerships and market linkages towards promising biotechnology innovations. It provides a platform for a two-way dialogue, where innovators can understand the investment lens and investors can gain deeper insights into the scientific, regulatory and development pathways characteristic of biotechnology. Such engagement is expected to help identify gaps that may constrain investment and enable promising innovations to move towards investment readiness, scale-up and commercialisation.
The event featured a Startup–Investor Connect session that facilitated direct interaction between 20 high-potential biotechnology/deep-tech startups and investors and provided an opportunity to exchange perspectives on the opportunities, challenges and investment considerations shaping biotechnology in India. The event also featured an engagement of the Hon’ble Minister with stakeholders, during which the Minister engaged in an interactive dialogue with participating investors and startups. The discussion focused on opportunities and challenges in India’s deep-tech and biotechnology innovation and investment ecosystem, including access to capital, commercialisation, scale-up and enabling measures for innovation-led growth. The dialogue brought together diverse perspectives and identified key ecosystem-level gaps and opportunities. The engagement is intended to help shape appropriate policy and institutional mechanisms to address key concerns and build a more connected, investment-ready innovation ecosystem.
BIO-NIVESH is thus envisaged as a strategic and sustained engagement mechanism to strengthen the interface between innovation and investment, enabling investors and innovators to engage with greater clarity and confidence and facilitating promising biotechnology innovations towards investment, scale-up and commercialisation.
The initiative reinforces BIRAC’s commitment to building an ecosystem where science can attract capital, innovations can achieve scale, and Indian biotechnology companies can compete globally. It marks a step towards building the investment architecture required for India’s next phase of bioeconomy growth.