From campus lab to stock market: IIT-B incubated auto electronics firm to deliver ₹55 crore windfall

The company, Sedemac Mechatronics, is set to launch an initial public offering (IPO), marking a major milestone not just for the Pune-based deep-tech firm but also for IIT Bombay’s startup ecosystem. The institute’s incubator, the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), currently holds about 4.08 lakh shares in the company. At the upper end of the IPO price band of ₹1,352 per share, the value of this stake is estimated at around ₹55 crore. The listing highlights how research ideas born inside university laboratories can grow into large commercial ventures over time. Sedemac Mechatronics develops advanced electronic control systems used in automobiles. The company traces its roots to research projects conducted at IIT Bombay in the early 2000s and was founded by former students of the institute working closely with faculty members studying automotive control technologies. In startup terminology, Sedemac is an “incubated company” — a venture that begins within a university or research institution and receives early support such as mentorship, technical guidance, workspace and access to funding networks before growing into an independent business. The company is led by Shashikanth Suryanarayanan, a professor in the mechanical engineering department at IIT Bombay, who serves as its managing director. Suryanarayanan completed his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley and played a key role in shaping the company’s vision. According to him, the seeds of the company were planted through research projects carried out at IIT Bombay between 2004 and 2007. “I ran two successful IIT Bombay projects between 2004 and 2007. One was on fuel-injection in two-wheelers and the other was steer-by-wire for cars,” Suryanarayanan said. “The prototypes surprised leaders in the automotive industry because a small group from an academic institute in India managed to build systems where large corporate teams had struggled.” Encouraged by the success of these projects, the research team decided to continue working together beyond the academic environment. “That made me think it would be a good idea to keep the core group together. I could not think of any other structure but a for-profit company. We set out to build fresh control technologies and seek widespread adoption, and that is what we continue to do,” he said. Sedemac was co-founded by IIT Bombay alumni Pushkaraj Panse, Amit Dixit and Manish Sharma, who had earlier worked with Suryanarayanan during their time at the institute. Turning a research idea into a commercial enterprise, however, was not easy. One of the biggest challenges was developing original technologies capable of competing with established global suppliers in the automotive industry. “Without first-in-the-world control technologies, no vehicle manufacturer will take you seriously because they already have long-standing suppliers like Bosch,” Suryanarayanan said. Convincing automobile manufacturers to adopt technology from a relatively small and unknown company was another hurdle, as automakers typically rely on suppliers with a long record of reliability. Funding for deep-tech startups was also scarce in India during the company’s early years. Today, Sedemac is focusing on technologies aligned with the rapidly expanding electric vehicle market. “We are one of the few entities in the EV industry with something differentiated. We already sell motor control units in significant numbers, and they are growing rapidly,” Suryanarayanan said. “With sensorless commutation, we have the opportunity to become a global leader in small EV motor control units.” The decision to go public, he said, reflects the company’s current stage of growth. “If you take money from financial investors, there are usually three possible outcomes — the company shuts down, it gets acquired, or it grows strong enough to remain an independent company. We are in the third category, and for such companies an IPO becomes the natural option,” he said. Suryanarayanan added that the listing will primarily strengthen the company’s credibility in the market. “We will keep doing what we have been doing. There will be zero change in our operations. However, the IPO gives us greater visibility with customers, employees and vendors. It benefits not only shareholders but also the business itself,” he said. For IIT Bombay, the Sedemac listing represents another success story from its incubation ecosystem. The institute earlier saw drone technology company ideaForge go public in June 2023, making Sedemac the second startup from the campus to reach the IPO stage. Shireesh Kedare, Director of IIT Bombay, said the development is a proud moment for the institute. He noted that many companies emerging from the institute are usually founded by alumni or students, but this is the first time a company started by a professor has reached this stage. Kedare said, “The achievement reflects the success of the institute’s incubation ecosystem built over the past two decades. The journey of the company from the IIT Bombay campus to the public market highlights the impact of the institute’s efforts in supporting research-driven startups and encouraging innovation among faculty and students.”