DERBI Foundation

DERBI publishes structure where most incubators publish adjectives: PACE is 16 weeks and requires a full-time founder, GALLOP is two years and sets out its selection steps. What it does not publish is money — no amount, equity term or fee appears against any programme. The one exception runs the other way: the Prayas Shala Lab has an actual charge sheet, which no other incubator profiled here offers.

PACE (Program to Accelerate Creation of Entrepreneurs)

Accelerator

16-week hands-on programme to validate an idea, build a prototype and get investor-ready.

Who qualifies: early-stage startups or individual founders with a clear problem statement, in MedTech/HealthTech, Wellness and Sports Tech, Sustainability and GreenTech, or Space Tech. Open across India; hybrid participation from Bengaluru is encouraged.

The real constraint: at least one founder must be available FULL-TIME for the whole 16 weeks. That rules out anyone building alongside a job, and it is stated up front, which is more than most programmes manage.

What you get: mentorship, access to labs and testing facilities, real-world data partnerships for pilots, corporate validation, grant and funding linkages after validation, and a Pitch Day. Completing PACE gives direct entry into GALLOP.

No funding amount or equity term is published.

Programme page

GALLOP

Incubation

Two-year incubation for healthcare startups at proof-of-concept or MVP stage.

Focus: point-of-care devices, hospital management, home care, medical equipment, telemedicine, sports and wellness, and nutrition.

What you get: product development support, customised mentoring, clinical trial and regulatory pathway assistance, access to physician networks, go-to-market strategy, and potential seed capital.

Selection: direct scouting or online application, then internal screening, then a pitch to an external committee before onboarding.

The regulatory and physician-network support is the distinguishing part — it is the bottleneck most medtech startups actually hit, and few incubators offer it.

Programme page

EMERGE

Accelerator

Acceleration for later-stage healthcare startups, with a digital-health track.

Aimed at product refinement, scaling and revenue rather than validation.

Programme page

BIONEST

Incubation

Bio-incubation track.

Programme page

Prayas Shala Lab

Platform

DERBI's instrumented prototyping and testing lab, with a published charge sheet.

Unusually, DERBI publishes an equipment list with charge details, an online sample-submission form and a components bank list. The charges sit in a linked document rather than on the page, but the fact that a rate card exists at all sets DERBI apart from every other incubator profiled here, none of which price their facilities publicly.

Programme page

NIDHI EiR

Fellowship

Entrepreneur-in-Residence fellowship.

Programme page

NIDHI PRAYAS

Grant scheme

DST prototype grant, paired with the Prayas Shala Lab on site.

Programme page

Incubation tracks

The routes into DERBI Foundation, and what each one includes.

This is a genuine ladder rather than a menu, and it is worth reading in order: PACE (16 weeks, validation) feeds directly into GALLOP (two years, incubation), which is followed by EMERGE for startups already generating revenue. The full-time founder requirement on PACE is the gate most applicants will hit first.

Track	Type	Space	Includes
PACE16 weeks. Requires at least one founder available FULL-TIME for the duration. Open across India, hybrid participation from Bengaluru encouraged. Completing it gives direct entry to GALLOP.	Pre-incubation	—	—
GALLOPTwo-year incubation for healthcare startups at proof-of-concept or MVP stage. Selection runs application screening, then a pitch to an external committee.	Resident incubation	—	—
EMERGEAcceleration for later-stage healthcare startups, including a digital-health track.	Acceleration	—	—
BIONESTBio-incubation track.	Resident incubation	—	—

Labs & facilities

Equipment and space on campus.

The strongest medtech prototyping bench of any incubator profiled here, and specced in public down to model numbers. The distinguishing items are not the spectrometers but the compliance kit: a vital-sign simulator and an electrical safety analyser. Electrical safety testing is a mandatory gate for a medical device, and access to it inside an incubator saves a route to an external test house that costs both money and months.

Medical device safety & performance testing

Fluke ProSim 3 vital-sign simulator for ECG, pacemaker and arrhythmia testing, plus an ESA609 electrical safety analyser. Rare in an incubator, and a hard gate for any medtech device.

Confocal Laser RAMAN Spectrometer

Motorised mapping stage, 0.3125 micron resolution.

FTIR and UV/VIS spectrophotometers

IRSpirit FTIR for contaminant analysis and raw material identification; UV/VIS across 250-1100nm.

Phase contrast microscope

Inverted, 2.2 micron pixel size.

PCB and SMT line

PCB prototype machine, table-top SMT pick-and-place, reflow oven, BGA rework and soldering stations.

Test & measurement bench

Tektronix oscilloscopes including mixed-signal, function generator, spectrum analyser, logic analyser, LCRQ meter and programmable DC supplies.

3D printing, scanning and machining

Stratasys UPrint SE, Artec Eva Lite 3D scanner, laser cutter/engraver, benchtop lathe, bench drill and grinder.

Data science workstation

DELL 5820 with dual Nvidia Quadro RTX5000 GPUs, plus MATLAB/Simulink and NI LabVIEW licences.

DSU Innovation Campus, Kudlu Gate

Recognitions & empanelments

Official approvals this incubator holds.

All four are funding routes rather than honours. DERBI was set up with NSTEDB support and runs an unusually complete slice of the NIDHI family alongside SISFS and TIDE 2.0 — so most of its money is national scheme money it is approved to disburse, not its own.

DST-NSTEDB supported

DERBI was established with founding support from NSTEDB, Department of Science & Technology.

DST NIDHI incubator

Runs NIDHI EiR, NIDHI PRAYAS and the NIDHI Seed Support System.

MeitY TIDE 2.0

Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) incubator

A medtech incubator that can actually test a device

DERBI is the Dayananda Sagar Entrepreneurship Research and Business Incubation Foundation, hosted by Dayananda Sagar University at Kudlu Gate in Bangalore, and set up with founding support from DST-NSTEDB.

The reason to look at it is the Prayas Shala Lab. Most incubators list "lab access" and leave it there; DERBI publishes an instrument-by-instrument inventory with model numbers, and the contents point squarely at medical devices. Alongside the expected spectroscopy — confocal RAMAN, FTIR, UV/VIS — it holds a Fluke ProSim 3 vital-sign simulator for ECG, pacemaker and arrhythmia testing, and an ESA609 electrical safety analyser.

That second pair matters more than it looks. Electrical safety testing is a mandatory gate for any medical device, and it normally means booking an external test house at real cost and a wait of weeks. Having it on the bench during development, rather than at the end, is a structural advantage for a medtech hardware team.

The rest of the lab supports the same story: a full PCB and SMT line, Tektronix test gear, 3D printing and scanning, a small machine shop, and a dual-RTX5000 workstation with MATLAB and LabVIEW licences.

Best fit: medtech and health hardware, at the stage where a device has to be built and proven. Weaker fit: software-only healthcare, which would use little of what makes DERBI distinctive.

What to know before you apply

DERBI is unusually specific about how its programmes run, which makes planning easier than at most incubators.

PACE needs a full-time founder. Sixteen weeks, with at least one founder available full-time throughout. It is stated up front, and it is the requirement most applicants will need to plan around — building alongside a job will not work here.

The ladder is real. PACE feeds directly into GALLOP, so completing the 16-week programme is itself a route into two-year incubation rather than a separate application. GALLOP then runs a defined selection sequence: internal screening, then a pitch to an external committee.

The lab has a published rate card. DERBI lists its equipment with charge details and an online sample-submission form — the only incubator we profile that prices its facilities openly. If you need instrument time rather than a desk, you can cost it out in advance.

On funding: DERBI channels national schemes — NIDHI EiR, NIDHI PRAYAS, NIDHI SSS, MeitY TIDE 2.0 and SISFS — whose terms are set centrally and can be checked independently. Programme-level support is matched to the startup rather than fixed, so the fastest route to specifics is the Pitch To Us form.

About DERBI Foundation

DERBI Foundation (Dayananda Sagar Entrepreneurship Research & Business Incubation Foundation) is a healthcare-focused incubator based in Bengaluru, established in 2015. Supported by DST's NIDHI Ecosystem, DBT-BIRAC, DPIIT-Startup India, MeitY, and the Government of Karnataka's IT & BT ministry, DERBI provides state-of-the-art technology support and business mentorship to early-stage tech ventures.

DERBI offers three flagship programs: PACE (3-4 month pre-incubation using Stanford BioDesign methodology), GALLOP (2-year incubation covering product development, regulatory assistance, IP support, go-to-market strategies, and seed funding), and EMERGE (customized acceleration for late-stage healthcare startups focused on scaling and revenue generation).

The foundation has supported more than 100 entrepreneurs, providing end-to-end support from idea validation through market entry and growth. All programs are designed to address the unique challenges of healthcare innovation including regulatory compliance, clinical evidence generation, and reimbursement strategy.

Who Benefits

Healthcare and MedTech entrepreneurs at all stages, from nascent innovators needing pre-incubation guidance to growth-stage startups seeking regulatory support, clinical validation, and scaling assistance in Bangalore's healthcare innovation ecosystem.