Only 10% of India’s population has access to comprehensive cardiovascular diagnostic facilities within a 10-kilometre radius.

Less than 2% of adults in India have been screened for oral cancer.

With fewer than 3,000 neurologists, more than 90 crore Indians lack access to neurological care.

Every tenth pregnancy is complicated by pre-eclampsia, often leading to low birth weight and poor health outcomes.

OVERVIEW

India’s healthcare system continues to struggle with limited, unevenly distributed, and often inaccessible resources – be it medical professionals, diagnostic infrastructure, or patient-ready technologies. The result: delayed diagnoses, missed windows for early intervention, and growing out-of-pocket expenditures, especially for the underserved. While MedTech start-ups are developing solutions to address these gaps, they face significant barriers to clinical validation, regulatory approval, and public health deployment.

Pfizer INDovation aims to address these challenges by supporting MedTech start-ups developing or ready to deploy innovative, affordable, scalable, and patentable innovations that improve access to screening, diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment enablement. These technologies have the potential to transform how quality healthcare is delivered, especially in low-resource settings.

Start-ups can apply under one of two tracks:

  • Incubation Track: Designed for start-ups with a clinical study-ready prototype (Technology Readiness Level 4–5), this track provides critical support for clinical validation and regulatory approvals. It enables innovators to move confidently from the lab bench to market entry—accelerating their transition toward real-world impact.
  • Deployment Track: Intended for start-ups with market-ready products that have secured regulatory approval (TRL 8), this track facilitates pilot deployment in Ayushman Arogya Mandirs – India’s public primary healthcare centres. It supports start-ups in generating real-world evidence, validating clinical utility, and demonstrating measurable impact within the public health ecosystem.
    The program offers grant funding, expert mentorship, support for clinical validation and regulatory approvals, pilot deployment opportunities in public health settings, and access to an acceleration ecosystem for go-to-market readiness.

Who Can Apply

Start-ups may apply under one of the following two tracks, based on their product’s stage of development.
Please refer to the eligibility criteria below before applying.

Incubation Track

  • Completed pre-clinical trials or clinical equivalence studies
  • Developed a process for quality assurance and quality control
  • Developed a preliminary plan for clinical trials

Deployment Track

  • Received necessary regulatory certifications for deployment in public health
  • Capacity to manufacture, deliver, and service the required number of product units within the program period
  • Willingness to travel for product demonstrations, end-user training, and feedback collection

Focus Areas

Pfizer INDovation invites applications from start-ups working on innovative MedTech solutions across the following areas of public health significance.

Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
Oncology

Cancers contribute to nearly 1 in 6 deaths globally, and in India, over 70% of cases are diagnosed at advanced stages, when treatment is more invasive, costlier, and less effective. Late detection often results in catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditure, prolonged disability, and premature mortality.

To address this challenge, there is a pressing need for solutions that enable early detection, timely diagnosis, and effective monitoring of cancer and its recurrence.

Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):

  • Accurate, easy-to-use, affordable screening tools for early cancer detection
  • Diagnostic tools with timely, reliable, and gold-standard-comparable results
  • Monitoring tools for relapse or metastasis, or tools that reduce the complexity, turnaround time, or cost of intra-treatment processes
Brain Health

Brain-related disorders affect nearly 1 in 3 people worldwide, yet most go undiagnosed or untreated in low-resource settings. In India, overlapping symptoms and limited specialist access often delay diagnosis and care. Early detection is critical to slow disease progression, highlighting the need for accessible tools to screen, diagnose, and monitor such conditions in underserved communities.

Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):

  • Screening and diagnostic tools for early detection of neurological, neurodevelopmental, mental health, and substance use disorders, enabling early interventions and task-shifting
  • Non-invasive or non-pharmacological treatment modalities that improve symptom management without significant side effects
  • Tools to improve treatment adherence, quality of care, and reduce cost and duration of care.
Maternal & Child Health

India accounts for nearly 20% of global maternal deaths and 30% of neonatal deaths, many of which are preventable with timely care. Yet, access to essential health services for women and children remains uneven across states and districts. There is a critical need for tools that can detect, monitor, and flag high-risk conditions early - enabling prompt interventions and improving survival and health outcomes.

Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):

  • Routine and specialised screening and diagnostic tests with quick turnaround for detecting high-risk pregnancies and post-natal complications
  • Tools to monitor normal and high-risk pregnancies, labour, and neonatal health in low-resource settings
  • Tools for early detection of neonatal complications and timely referrals
Immunisation

India vaccinates over 26 million children annually, yet timely and complete coverage remains a challenge in hard-to-reach and marginalised communities. Breaks in the cold chain and gaps in tracking vaccine delivery continue to impact efficacy. There is a pressing need for innovations that can safeguard vaccine quality, monitor last-mile delivery, and ensure timely administration.

Potential solutions include (but are not limited to):

  • Energy-efficient vaccine storage and transport solutions that can run on alternative power sources
  • Remote temperature monitoring solutions for last-mile delivery
  • Tools to detect freezing of vaccines and prevent cold chain breaches

Program Offerings

The program will support selected start-ups with targeted support to accelerate clinical validation, regulatory readiness, and public health deployment.

Incubation Track

  • Grant support of up to 60 lakh INR for clinical validation and regulatory approval
  • Focussed sessions on clinical validation and regulatory approval
  • Expert mentorship on go-to-market strategy
  • Engagement with private and public healthcare partners for clinical fitment and end-user feedback
  • Opportunity to apply for investment opportunities at Social Alpha based thesis fitment and due diligence

Deployment Track

  • Grant support of up to 60 lakh INR for the deployment of products at Ayushman Arogya Mandirs
  • Access to pilot deployment locations in select states via Social Alpha’s healthcare partners
  • Real-world feedback from patients, facilities, and public health authorities
  • Support to generate real-world evidence on product utility, efficacy, and impact
  • Opportunity to apply for investment opportunities at Social Alpha based thesis fitment and due diligence

Important Dates

  • Applications Open

    September 2nd, 2025

  • Deadline for Applications

    September 30th, 2025

  • Jury Round

    November, 2025

  • Evaluation of Applications

    End of June, 2025

  • Induction and Launch of the Accelerator

    End of November, 2025

  • Announcement of Winners

    November, 2025

  • Incubation for 12 months

    December, 2025 – November, 2025

Our Partners

frequently asked questions
frequently asked questions

Who can apply for the program?

Eligibility criteria:
  • The start-up should be working on innovative solutions for screening, diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment enablement that can improve health outcomes.
  • Shareholding by Indian promoters in the start-up should be at least 51% at the time of application to the incubator for the scheme, as per the Companies Act, 2013, and SEBI (ICDR) Regulations, 2018.
  • The grant is not generally given for service start-ups working in Trade and Commerce.
Incubation Track: Startups which have:
  • Completed pre-clinical trials or clinical equivalence studies
  • Developed a process for quality assurance and quality control
  • Developed a preliminary plan for clinical trials
  • Finalised a plan and vendors for manufacturing units for the clinical trial
  • Desirable: Obtained the relevant certifications required for obtaining the CDSCO test license
  • Desirable: Obtained ethics committee approval from a clinical trial partner
Deployment Track: Startups which have:
  • Obtained necessary regulatory certifications for deployment in public health
  • Capacity to manufacture and deliver the required number of product units within the stipulated timeframe
  • Willingness to travel for product demonstrations, training of end-users and, collecting feedback
  • Capacity to deliver after-sales service in Maharashtra
  • Supply chain to deliver consumables (if any) to Maharashtra
  • Software licenses in place and readiness to work with the digital public health infrastructure
  • Willingness to develop training collateral in regional languages
  • Completed clinical validation studies, wherever applicable
  • Desirable: Clinical validation results published
  • Desirable: Products already in use at a few centres/sites

Can I submit more than one application for different technologies?

Yes, applicants can submit multiple applications, but each application must feature a distinct product. However, in the final selection, only one application will be considered per startup.

What are the different benefits that the top start-ups of the program get?

The program seeks to unlock the potential of Indian healthcare technology innovations for screening, diagnostics, monitoring, and treatment enablement through the acceleration of innovations over 18 months of active incubation support.

Each winning startup will receive a grant of up to INR 60 lakhs. Startups selected for the Incubation Track will receive support for clinical validation, regulatory approval, and go-to-market readiness, while startups selected for the Deployment Track will receive the opportunity to deploy their products in the public health system to collect end-user feedback and data on clinical utility.

What is the grant structure? What can the grant amount be used for?

The grant amount is disbursed in milestone-linked tranches, subject to demonstration of milestone achievement and timely submission of utilisation certificates.

Incubation Track: Grant support is provided to complete clinical trials and obtain regulatory approvals. The grant amount can be used for expenses related to clinical validation (including manufacturing units for clinical validation and publication of results) at one or more sites, regulatory approval, and any other approved expense.

Deployment Track: Grant support is provided to supply product units and consumables (if any), annual maintenance costs, training costs, any travel associated with the above, and any other approved expense.

The following expenses will not be supported by the grant:

  • Repayment of loans or any investments made by the founding team or any other person in the venture to date.
  • Pure research projects that intend to demonstrate scientific principles
  • Ideas with no intention of commercialisation, i.e., to convert into marketable technologies/products/services.
  • Innovations with serious ethical and safety risks deemed infeasible by experts, and that have serious health consequences.
  • Funding cannot be used to support student/faculty research or any other academic research.

Will I be eligible to receive dilutive funding by Social Alpha upon selection?

This will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Startups may be considered for seed funding by Social Alpha’s investment committee, subject to due diligence and thesis fitment.

Can I find other funding partners for dilutive investments?

Yes, startups can secure dilutive funding from other investors in the ecosystem.

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Terms and Conditions
Terms and Conditions

Please read the following terms and conditions before submitting your entry:

1.Eligibility
  • Participating or proposed ventures should be independent entities, meaning that they should not be a subsidiary of an existing corporation or have legal ties to a government body.
  • The applicant should be a registered company in India. The shareholding by Indian promoters in the company should be at least 51%.
2. Submissions and Participation
  • Submissions that are incomplete will be deemed void and disqualified from the program evaluations.
  • Submissions should be the original work of the participant/participating entity, should have potential for positive healthcare impact, and should have a disruptive technology innovation with the potential to be sustainable and scalable in India (though not exclusively in the region).
  • Participants who are shortlisted for due diligence may be required to share additional information.
  • Winners agree to the use of their names, photographs, and the disclosure of their country of residence, and are required to cooperate with any other reasonable requests by the organiser relating to any publicity-related activities.
  • Winners are required to submit a declaration of good standing and solvency at the final stage of evaluation. If there is any change in circumstance that invalidates their good standing and solvency, the team is to immediately inform the organisers.
  • All participants own the rights to their ideas. Participants must properly acknowledge any trademarks, patented, or copyrighted materials of others that are incorporated into the submission materials. Participants are responsible for obtaining any necessary permission before utilising such materials in their submissions.
  • Submitted ideas are protected in the spirit of non-disclosure, and all submitted materials will be treated as company confidential. The only people with access to the entry materials will be evaluators/judges, partners, and select members of the organising committee. Materials will not be distributed to any other party unless requested by a participant. No other provisions are made to protect intellectual property.
  • Participants are advised not to disclose critical information that would affect the successful filing of patent(s). All presentations are open to the general public, and some presentations may be videotaped/recorded. Any data or information discussed or divulged in public sessions by participants should be considered information that will likely enter the public realm, and entrants should not assume any right of confidentiality in any data or information discussed, divulged, or presented in these sessions.
3. Decisions regarding the winners
  • The selection of the ‘Winners’ is at the sole discretion of the judges and the organisers from Social Alpha and partnering organisations.
  • Throughout all phases of the application process, all decisions of the judges are final.
4. Disqualification and Organiser’s Right to Amend Competition Rules
  • The organisers of the program reserve the right to disqualify any participant who is found to have violated the spirit of the application guidelines and terms and conditions stated herein. Disqualified participants shall forfeit all prizes awarded to them.
  • The organisers reserve the right to amend these rules at any point before the Closing Date of the applications in line with the overall goal of Techtonic.
  • The indicated dates for the applications may be revised at any point in time by the organisers. Any change in schedule will be suitably intimated on the applications webpage and on other relevant platforms.

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Apply Now

For any assistance needed in filling the application form, please reach out to us at

pfizerindovation@socialalpha.org