Srinagar, Dec 23: Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir (SKUAST-K) Friday launched the first-of-its-kind faculty-student startup, ‘Cashmir Biotech Pvt Ltd’ at the Shalimar campus.
A statement of SKUAST-K issued here said that the research-driven startup, formulated under the aegis of SKUAST-K Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (SKIIE) Center, aims to design high-value anticancer functional foods from underutilised plants endogenous to Kashmir.
Dr Khalid Z Masoodi, an assistant professor at the SKUAST-K’s Division of Plant Biotechnology, Faculty of Horticulture, along with his two MSc students, Dar Murtaza and Aaqib Hurrah, has founded the startup. Cashmir Biotech has already commercialised its first functional food. Magic Food is considered a safe, non-toxic plant-based futuristic functional food possessing TaxO an anticancer molecule. The startup aims to design high-value functional foods from underutilised edible plants endogenous to the Kashmir Valley.
Magic Food was recently highlighted in the introductory documentary of the Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India in its Kashmir Expo Startup for Livelihood. Magic Food got attention from various foreign markets as well. “However, instead of selling the technology, our Vice-Chancellor took the lead under the Government of India's Make in India, Innovate India and Self-Reliant India initiatives to make way for the first faculty-student startup of the university," said Masoodi.
Cashmir Biotech Pvt Ltd is incubated at SKIIE Centre, SKUAST-K under NEP-2020 and NISP for commercialising Magic Food.
