DLabs: ISB's Incubator Turning Ideas into Investable Startups

DLabs is the incubation and acceleration arm of the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad campus. Established in 2014 with support from the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, it operates a state-of-the-art space where entrepreneurs work alongside mentors, investors and academia. Its mission: to turn innovative, commercially viable ideas — from ISB students, alumni and the wider ecosystem — into investable startups.

What it offers founders

DLabs supports founders across stages and sectors with tailored mentoring, fundraising support, high-touch business advisory, structured technical assistance and market-access networks. It is led by CEO Saumya Kumar, who also serves as Director of ISB I-Venture. The incubator runs social-impact accelerators for social enterprises in Health, Agribusiness, Education and Climate Action — programmes designed to help enterprises create impact at scale through fundraising support, structured mentoring and investor connections.

Flagship programme: I-HEAL

Its best-known accelerator is I-HEAL @ ISB, run with CitiusTech for digital healthcare innovation. The fourth cohort's startups included BabyCue (rapid paediatric diagnostics), Cerbo Tech (brain-computer interface for student wellness), Garbha.ai (AI for IVF success rates), GenElek Technologies (clinical exoskeletons) and GUTBUDDY (AI platform for gut health). Selected startups get mentorship, hospital and investor access, regulatory guidance and a demo day.

Track record

DLabs-incubated companies include Sirona Hygiene, the women's hygiene brand founded by Deep Bajaj that was incubating at DLabs when it reached roughly $3.2 million in revenue (per a DST impact report). A sister arm, AIC ISB at the Mohali campus, was established in 2017 with support from the Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog. Fund size is not applicable — DLabs is an incubator/accelerator, not a fund.

An earlier I-HEAL @ ISB 3.0 cohort (run with CitiusTech) included startups such as Prodoc AI (patient-interaction tooling), Alfaleus Tech (glaucoma care), Remap Intelligence (neuro-rehabilitation), Piltover Technologies (mechanical prosthetic hand), Cureous Labs (intelligent patient repositioning), Chrogene Aarogyam (point-of-care sickle-cell diagnostics), Onward Assist (cancer analytics for pathologists) and Zeuron.ai (neuro-computer health console) — illustrating how narrowly and technically the programme selects. DLabs' origins also matter: it was launched as a design-led accelerator, embedding human-centred design mentors into its model, a philosophy that still shapes how it helps founders build user-oriented products.