Bengaluru | 24th June 2020: Chiratae Ventures, India’s leading Venture Capital fund today announced their seed investment in Aether Biomedical, a medical robotics company focused on developing rehabilitation devices based on biosignal processing as a part of their DeepTech Innovators Program. Other investors that participated in the round include Joyance partners & Sunfish partners. The funding will primarily be used for the commercialization of Zeus V1 across India and Europe. The company also aims to continue its R&D efforts by building the next generation of the bionic limb and building accessory products like prosthetic wrists and prosthetic elbows.
This DeepTech Innovators program by Chiratae Ventures is the 6th edition consolidating all the previous programs for the seed and early-stage start-ups with a focus on solving real, major problems through deep-technology across sectors. This cohort saw participation from more than 250+ companies across horizontal tech, mobility, robotics, energy, aerospace, biotech, life sciences, etc. This initiative is in-line with Chiratae’s continued effort to back deep technology solutions and boost innovative thinking coming out of India.
Aether’s first product Zeus, a multi-action bionic limb, is a low-cost high efficacy product aimed to create data-driven rehabilitation accessible and more robust. Their state-of-the-art product offers one of the highest grip forces in the market and is priced at a much affordable rate to bring a larger set of amputees under their purview. They have been able to achieve this by employing some of the latest advancements in biosignal processing, machine learning, and additive manufacturing which have the potential to further expand the scope of their solutions in the broader sphere of data-driven rehabilitation. The company led by Dhruv Agrawal and Faith Jiwakhan built this product after studying core aspects of robotics, mechatronics and continue to do so and bring the best of medical science and robotics together in this product.
There are reportedly more than 10Mn amputees around the world. 80% of them live in developing countries where the penetration of prosthesis is less than 10%. A large number of amputees (who even have access to rehab solutions) either get dropped out of rehabilitation because of high costs, low efficacy products, barriers to repeatability, or all. The global prosthetics and orthotics market size was estimated at USD 9.2 billion in 2019 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 4.6% till 2027. The Asia Pacific continues to be a huge market & is expected to have the highest growth by 2025. India and China are considered the fastest growing in the region due to increasing aging populations, growing awareness about new technology, and the availability of funds. This is the gap Aether aims to bridge by bringing new age, scalable, insight-driven solutions. Their top markets include developing regions like India and other countries in the Asia Pacific region.
Speaking on the announcement, Mr. Sudhir Sethi, Founder & Managing Director, Chiratae Ventures, said “We see Deep-tech playing a pivotal role in shaping scalable solutions across verticals. As technology evolves so does the benchmark for innovation, Aether & its team is a great example of that. Dhruv & Faith share our excitement on bringing to life new-age tech-led solutions positively impacting millions of people around the world & we’re excited to partner with them along with Joyance Partners and Sunfish Partners.”
Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Dhruv Agrawal, (Founder and CEO ), Aether Biomedical, said “As an early-stage startup we’re thrilled by the faith & excitement shown to us by incredible partners such as Chiratae, Joyance & Sunfish. As a company, we’re deeply committed to pushing the boundaries to create solutions that enable fulfilling lives for millions of people across the globe. Building at the intersection of robotics, mechatronics, research, insights & innovation we hope our solutions help 10 M+ amputees globally live better lives & re-invent medical tech.”
