ET Startup Awards 2026 | Top Innovator: Deeptech startup Theranautilus’ micro robots score big win

Deeptech startup Theranautilus was declared the Top Innovator at the ET Startup Awards 2026 for its work on microscopic robots that can navigate inside the human body to perform targeted, minimally invasive treatments.

The jury said the nominees this year reflected a broader shift in Indian entrepreneurship towards solving complex scientific and technological problems.

The jury members said the hardest part was weighing the promise of cutting-edge technology against evidence of commercial traction.


“What really stood out to me is their patience. True innovation takes time. Many of the companies we evaluated today have spent years quietly building, refining their technology and staying the course, patiently waiting for monetisation and scale,” said Mukesh Bansal, jury member and cofounder of Myntra, Curefit and Nurix.

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For Abhiraj Singh Bhal, another jury member and the cofounder and CEO of Urban Company, what set Theranautilus apart was that it was a globally unique innovation rooted in fundamental research. “It has reached a point where commercialisation is becoming a reality, and there is a lot of peer-reviewed research around it. That played significantly in its favour,” he said.

Founded in Bengaluru in 2020 by Ambarish Ghosh, Peddi Shanmukh Srinivas and Debayan Dasgupta, Theranautilus traces its roots to research started by Ghosh at the Indian Institute of Science in 2007.

The company is developing magnetically controlled nanorobots that can navigate narrow pathways inside the body, carry therapeutic payloads and perform targeted interventions.

Its first focus is oral healthcare, where the technology is being developed to treat dental sensitivity and access hard-to-reach areas such as root canals. The company has completed preclinical studies in mice and is moving towards human trials by September 2026.

Theranautilus plans to eventually apply the platform to oncology, drug delivery, ophthalmology and neuromodulation. For oncology, trials of nanorobots are targeted for 2028.

“We at Theranautilus are deeply honoured and humbled to receive the prestigious Economic Times Top Innovator Award. This platform validates our relentless pursuit of pioneering nanobots in healthcare and inspires us to push boundaries further and accelerate our mission of transforming patient care through innovation,” said Peddi Shanmukh Srinivas, cofounder and chief executive of Theranautilus.

The company's ambition goes beyond its first dental application. Srinivas said Theranautilus is working to bring physicist Richard Feynman's 1959 vision of a “swallowed surgeon” closer to reality. “By deploying nanorobots capable of precise, cellular-scale interventions we are turning theory into life-saving treatments, paving the way for non-invasive healthcare that operates at nanoscale,” he added.

Theranautilus plans to commercialise the technology through licensing partnerships with pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical-device companies, rather than manufacturing individual products for every application. It has raised Rs 65 crore, including equity-free grants, and is backed by pi Ventures, Pravega Ventures, Golden Sparrow and Angel investor Abhishek Goyal.

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