PI-RAHI Hosts Startup Showcasing Session: 10 Deep-Tech Startups from North India Showcase Their Unique Strengths

Chandigarh, October 3, 2025: The Panjab University–IIT Ropar Regional Accelerator for Holistic Innovations (PI-RAHI), under the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India, in collaboration with DST-TEC and Panjab University, hosted a Startup Showcasing Session, featuring 10 deep-tech startups from across North India. The session, organised at the Sector 25 campus of PU, spotlighted cutting-edge solutions in healthtech, agri-tech, IoT, sustainable materials, and environmental monitoring, aimed at strengthening the region’s innovation ecosystem.

Among the key highlights was the launch of an AI-based maize quality assessment platform by RootsGoods Pvt. Ltd., designed to reduce post-harvest losses, ensure fair valuation, and improve farmer incomes in Punjab. The solution uses a multilingual AI system, Maize GPT, for quality analysis, logistics, and storage, and has already onboarded two Farmer Producer Organizations covering about 1,400 farmers. The platform will link farmers to maize-utilising industries, including bioethanol, poultry feed, animal feed, and starch processing, building a resilient agri-value chain.

Another significant unveiling was ProstaHealth by DACH Biotech, an affordable and rapid prostate cancer detection kit designed to enable early diagnosis and expand healthcare access.

The session was graced by Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder of Infosys and Chairman, Axilor Ventures, who emphasised the critical role of startups in shaping India’s economic and technological future. Also present were Prof. Renu Vig (Vice-Chancellor, PU & Chairperson, PI-RAHI), Prof. Rajeev Ahuja (Director, IIT Ropar & Co-Chairperson, PI-RAHI), Prof. Rajat Sandhir (Director, PI-RAHI), Dr. Jatinder Kaur Arora (Advisor, PI-RAHI), Dr. Dapinder Kaur Bakshi (Joint Director, PSCST), Prof. Navdeep Goyal, Prof. Manu Sharma (Coordinator, DST-TEC, PU), and Ms. Neha Arora (CEO, PI-RAHI).

The 10 startups showcased included RootsGoods, Terafac, Electrowaves Electronics Pvt. Ltd. (Series A funded), Align Eye, Vizibble, Stoxfarm, DACH Biotech, Nanokem, Citpeels, C4 Composites, and BluAI. Their solutions spanned domains such as healthcare diagnostics, clean energy, AI-driven agriculture, and advanced materials.

The event concluded with interactive discussions among stakeholders, reinforcing PI-RAHI’s mission to foster collaboration between startups, industry, academia, and policymakers, and to build a strong, inclusive regional deep-tech innovation ecosystem.