2 Microbiologists build an animal nutraceuticals startup that clocks around ₹50 L annual turnover in FY25

Ruminants form the largest portion of livestock in India that live in close association with humans. However, the health of these animals is often neglected. In an exclusive interview with Startup Pedia, Dr Milind Niphadkar from Occamy BioScience shared his journey from microbiologist to entrepreneur, providing innovative, simple, affordable, researched, and readily scalable microbial solutions for livestock.

How was Occamy formed?

Founded by Ms Saloni Godbole Tewari and Dr Milind Niphadkar in 2018, Occamy is a Maharashtra-based DIPP-registered startup that develops and commercialises nutraceuticals for ruminants that are made of microbial protein, proprietary probiotic strains, amino acids, minerals and vitamins.

The microbiology-based livestock startup is on a mission to develop microbe-based solutions to achieve the One Health Goals.

As global pollution is growing, the interaction between animals, the environment and humans is increasing, leading to a rise in zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, food security, and climate change.

Occamy’s One Health approach enables addressing all of the interlinked issues, creating economic, health, social and environmental impact and aligning with 9  global sustainable goals in the journey.

The first line of products commercialised is nutraceuticals for livestock animals. 

“We started with an intention to bring microbial technologies at an affordable cost for society as a whole, and then found animal husbandry as the perfect domain to begin with due to the need, the unorganised nature of operations and huge potential,” Dr Niphadkar told Startup Pedia.   

About the founders

Ms Saloni Godbole Tewari, the Founder and CEO of the startup, is an MSc in Microbiology from the University of Mumbai. She is a certified Global Heartfulness Trainer. She belongs to an entrepreneurial family and bridges science with the economics of scale. 

Dr Milind Niphadkar, the Co-founder and CTO, is a Post Doctorate from the CCMB Hyderabad. He has a PhD from the Cancer Research Institute (now ACTREC), Mumbai, with 17 years of experience in Research and Development in Pharma. 

“We at Occamy strongly believe and have established that improved animal immunity and health can be a principal solution for all One Health Objectives, as it works at the grassroots of the entire value chain,” Dr Milind Niphadkar shared.

Products from Occamy - “Chavanprash” for livestock

With expertise in microbiology together with industry insight, the startup has designed a range of nutraceutical supplements for ruminants across India and abroad, considering the diet variations and limiting nutrition.

“With Occamy BioScience, you'll find cost-effective vegan, microbial protein, enzymes, limiting amino acids, and innovative microbial feed solutions that help dairy businesses produce safer, healthier milk and more efficient animals, heading towards making dairy ventures profitable and sustainable,” Dr Niphadkar informed Startup Pedia.

All ingredients used by the company are tested in NABL-accredited labs at regular intervals for consistent quality.

The 4 main livestock specific to each species are as follows, thoroughly curated by Occamy Occamy BioScience:

Rakshak

Rakshak is a chavanprash-like immunity booster nutraceutical supplement ideally for cows or buffaloes milking up to 8 litres per day, farmers with backyard farms, and gaushalas. 

The meaning of the word “rakshak” in Hindi is “protector”. So, this product protects the livestock by improving overall health and building immunity, thereby reducing medical expenses. It also promotes a better conception rate and pregnancy in the animals.

Rakshak provides all minerals, Selenium, vitamin E, calcium and probiotics.

Bovi Booster

It is a high-protein nutraceutical supplement designed to improve the nutritional quality of milk by reducing somatic cell counts and antibiotic residue in milk.

The term “Bovi” comes from “Bovine”, and “Booster” suggests a boost in milk production.

Bovi Booster is ideal for cows and buffaloes milking 8 to 20 Litres per day in big farms.

This product improves digestion, increases protein, fat and SNF in milk, maintains consistent milk quality and reduces somatic cell count. It also reduces methane emissions.

Bovi Booster provides all minerals, vitamins, amino acids, toxin binder and probiotics.

Jodi No 1

Jodi No. 1 is a protein-enriched supplement designed for bulls to build muscle strength, promoting quick repair mechanisms, increasing stamina and enhancing semen quality and reproduction.

The word “Jodi” means “pair” in Hindi and Marathi.

The product is ideal for farming bulls, bison and racing bulls.

BuckBooster

BuckBooster is a high-protein weight-gain supplement for goats, ideal for goats aged 4 months and above.

The product helps in gaining weight, growing muscle, promoting digestion, increasing immunity, improving digestion and overall health and stimulating the liver mechanism.

“Our innovative solutions are designed to meet diverse customer and consumer needs, as in the case of animal nutrition and health, one size doesn't fit all,” said the startup co-founder.

He further added that customisation is possible as per the requirements of the farmers or dairy co-operatives, or milk quality needs.

Environmental impact 

Animal health is crucial to sustaining the ecosystem. Sensitive animals are prone to infections and become carriers. Infected animals may spread the disease to other species.

The infection also affects milk and meat productivity, farm economics and leads to quality food shortage, especially protein-containing foods.

Farmers often use excessive antibiotics to ensure milk and meat productivity is not hampered when the animals are infected. This leads to frequent exposure to antibiotics in humans when they consume such produce, resulting in antimicrobial resistance.

Excessive use of antibiotics also affects animal health at longer run, with pregnancy cycles, dry periods being affected the most, affecting the entire lactation. Lumpy, Brucellosis, Foot and Mouth Disease, and Mad cow disease are some zoonotic diseases of concern from cattle, totally based on immunity.

Occamy BioScience collected samples of blood from cows to study baseline parameters indicating low immunity and health due to excess serum creatinine, bilirubin and low albumin and globulin levels. These values significantly improved and reached acceptable levels as per veterinary standards by feeding Occamy Nutraceuticals for 30 days in a study conducted on actual farms. 

If livestock health is improved, zoonosis will be significantly reduced, enhancing human health and reducing dependence on medical expenses for farmers. 

Protein is an important nutritional factor required to build the entire body, the immune system and metabolism. Milk is the cheapest and most accessible source of protein and a provider of whey concentrates, too. 

India is the largest milk producer in the world, but the proportion of milk exported is poor due to unmatched global quality standards as well as a lack of supply for domestic consumption.

It took 210 cows to make 1000L of milk every day, and after feeding Occamy rakshak for 10 days, it took just 170 animals to make the same amount of milk, reducing animal requirement and direct methane release. 

Pelleted feed is best when localised, and often the farmer decides what to feed or not. Therefore, supplements are the best way to ensure complete micronutrient fulfilment irrespective og geographical variations, etc.

Occamy on a Mission 

‍Now with an employee base of 20, Occamy is on a grand mission to generate employment for at least 1 person in each of the 766 districts of India while working on the One Health Objectives and aligning with 9 of the Global Sustainable Goals. 

Along with employment generation, the startup aims to empower the dairy farmers with increased livelihood.

“In this journey, so far, our impact has been able to benefit 15000+ farmers with increased returns on investments and decreased input costs involved in dairying,” shared Dr Milind Niphadkar.

He further explained that if a farmer invests INR 450 with Occamy per animal every month, he/she will receive a minimum INR 900 return as a direct increase in income due to improved milk quality and quantity.

“There is an indirect benefit of around INR 50000 to 80000 rupees per animal due to reduced medicinal costs and improved, timely lactation,” the startup cofounder informed.

Investments, turnover and profits generated 

Occamy cofounder Dr Milind Niphadkar shared that they have invested around Rs. 45 Lakhs over the last 7 years.

“In the early days, SBI supported us with the CGTSME scheme to set up our manufacturing, and then we were backed by institutional funds from our incubator AIC RMP, as well as other government grants and access to funds by Social Alpha, RKYV RAFTAAR schemes, etc,” he shared.

The livestock nutraceuticals startup is currently raising funds for the next 5-year goals. 

“The investment is primarily required for scale up, expand in India as well as the world, build a robust team, launch a new line of products and more importantly, gear for a profitable business,” he said.

The annual turnover of the nutraceutical division of Occamy Bioscience is around Rs. 50 Lakh for FY 2024-25.

“From clocking around Rs 5 Lakh in the first year of business, we have come a long way!” the cofounder admitted.

Upcoming goals and current challenges

Occamy BioScience is currently working on products for other livestock animals and in future for cats and dogs. The research is going on. 

“The presence in rural areas is limited, although we need to reach the farmers with our products,” informed the cofounder of the livestock feed startup.

However, presently, the main challenge, as highlighted by Occamy cofounder Dr Milind Niphadkar, is that in India, the distribution system is aimed at urban areas.

“India Post works the best, but it is quite expensive, though,” he shared. “Although the UP government is making the process easier for business transactions of goods in the region.”

Awards and recognitions

Woman Achievers Award by World Trade Centre Mumbai, Business Excellence Award from DeAsra Foundation and Sustainable Startup Award with cash prize - SIDBI and Niti Aayog from Woman Entrepreneurship Platform are some of the accolades achieved by Occamy.

Also read: At 27, this young entrepreneur teamed up with mom to launch a semi-free-range chicken startup — today, it's valued at ₹45 Cr (startuppedia.in)