Starting up with Shradha Sharma: From regenerative medicine to edtech for future army officers, meet the top innovators of this week

YourStory recently launched Starting Up with Shradha Sharma–a weekly live show hosted by Shradha Sharma, CEO and Founder of YourStory, that provides first-of-its-kind opportunity to early and mid-stage startups a platform to showcase their innovation, without the luxury of retakes or tweaks. 

In this live, unscripted and unfiltered show, startups get to pitch their bold ideas, their latest products, and pitch to potential investors. 

For this week’s episode on Starting Up with Shradha Sharma, YourStory hosted Nutrizoe, ExemplaryAI, Regrow Biosciences, and Future of Army Officers in its LinkedIn page. Get to know the startups from episode four: 

Nutrizoe

Founded by Richa Pendake, Nutrizoe is a women’s nourishment startup that focuses on providing solutions for the puberty and menopause phase–think period cramps, fertility problems, pregnancy issues and postpartum recovery. 

Some of its products include menstruation pain relief oral strips, lactation-aiding energy bars, and oral strips that help with pregnancy motion sickness, nausea and vomiting. “I wanted to create a brand that caters to women and offers an easy solution to their health problems,” Pendake told YourStory in an earlier conversation.

The Mumbai-based startup hopes to make a mark in the Indian nutraceutical market, which is expected to grow to $18 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 21% between now and then. It is the country’s first nourishment brand that has officially partnered with the Mumbai Indians Women’s cricket team. 

Pendake, who comes with more than 15-years of corporate experience, including a decade-long stint at Aditya Birla Group, has expertise across strategy, sales, distribution, and rewards. Before taking the entrepreneurial route, Pendake served as the National Head of Sales for one of HDFC Bank’s verticals. 

Launched in 2019,  Nutrizoe’s products are available across Amazon, Flipkart, FirstCry and its own website, and are priced between Rs 400 and Rs 3,000. The startup has also raised $133,000 from India Accelerator and HME Angles. 

“In the next 12 to 18 months, you will see a big announcement coming up. We are co-developing something interesting with one of the biggest FMCG brands as well,” Pendake revealed during the live conversation. 

ExemplaryAI 

San Francisco-headquartered bootstrapped startup ExemplaryAI is a software platform that offers features designed to help businesses and individuals create high-quality transcripts and subtitles for audio and video content using artificial intelligence (AI). 

Founded by Johann Varghese in 2019, ExemplaryAI is breaking language barriers to help customers connect with its global audience, at scale, by providing 120 language translations with the help of GPT Assistance. 

Varghese is a proven product and tech lead. Before starting ExemplaryAI, he was the VP at User Testing and Founder at Accel-backed Impart. His platform ExemplaryAI goes just beyond transcription to generate content with prompts, such as summaries, meeting notes, highlights, blogs and follow-up emails. Varghese plans to launch ExemplaryAI for public use by next month.

Regrow Biosciences

Regrow Biosciences is one of India’s leading biotech companies pioneering in the field of regenerative medicine. The 2009-founded company was established with the vision of becoming the world’s largest stem cell-based tissue and organ development factory. 

Founded by Satyen Sanghavi, Yash Sanghavi and Jill Bhanushali, the Mumbai-based company has established a premium cord blood stem cell bank called Biocell with a patronage of 4,700 plus parents. 

During the live show, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer Satyen joined Shradha Sharma to speak more about Regrow Biosciences. The company is on a mission to improve human healthcare by innovating and delivering regenerative medicine-based solutions. 

The company has raised Rs 70 crore so far. 

Future Army Officers 

Future Army Officers works like a coaching center for aspiring army officers. 

Founded by Retd. Col Rajvir Sharma and Apurva Sharma in 2020, Future Army Officers is on a mission to bridge the gap in the edtech sector, by catering to the needs of 16 to 27-year old men and women who aspire to become Indian defense officers. 

The Delhi-based startup has tied up with retired officers who bring in their expertise and create personalised and unique courses. 

So far, Future Army Officers has contributed to more than 1,00-plus students clearing their defense exams and has a 20% selection rate in SBB Interviews. About 40 students of Future Army Officers are currently serving in the Indian Army, Apurva revealed during the conversation with Shradha Sharma. 

Watch the recording here.