Kavitha Iyer Rodrigues, 

In 2007, she co-founded the first biotech startup in venture capital firm Accel Partners’ stable. Known for backing tech, notably Facebook and Flipkart, Accel had invested Rs 5.8 crore ($1 million then) in Inbiopro, founded by Iyer Rodrigues, Sohang Chatterjee, and Aditya Julka. They successfully exited in 2010, when pharma company Strides Arcolab acquired Inbiopro. Iyer Rodrigues is at it again, founding Theramyt with Chatterjee in June to develop two improved variants (or ‘biobetters’) of anti-cancer formulations up to the proof-ofconcept stage. Their first target is to set up, by October, a patentable technology platform that can be used to develop the biobetters. A battery of investors has lined up to back the founders: Aarin Capital, Accel, IDG Ventures, and the Karnataka government. She says focus and lean management is the way forward for biotech.