Anu Acharya is an Indian Entrepreneur known to be the founder of Mapmygenome India, a leading Indian genomic diagnostic company specializing in leveraging personal genomics to optimize healthcare. In 2000, she founded Ocimum Bio Solutions as a bioinformatics company to provide global solutions for discovery, investment and genomic innovation. She was named a ‘Young Global Leader’ by the World Economic Forum in 2011. With her innovative DNA testing solutions, she has made a name for herself as one of the leading female entrepreneurs in India.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Anuradha Acharya was born in 1972 (age 51 years, as of 2023) in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India but basically spent most of her life in Kharagpur, West Bengal where she pursued her education. She is a distinguished alumna from IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) in Kharagpur, India where she completed her graduation. In 1995 she moved to Chicago, US and received two Postgraduate degrees in Physics and MIS
Physical Appearance
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Dark Brown
Family
Anuradha Acharya belongs to a Marwari family.
Parents
She is the daughter of Prof. H. N. Acharya (deceased on 2 November 2014), who was a physics professor at IIT-Kharagpur. Her father was her inspiration and she wanted to become a physicist like him.
Anuradha Acharya with her late father Prof. H.N. Acharya
Husband & Children
Acharya is married to Subash Lingareddy. He is the founder and CFO of Ocimum Bio Solutions. They have two daughters together, Neha and Akhila.
Anuradha Acharya with her husband and daughters
Career
Beginnings
She was encouraged by her father to pursue the best suitable goals in life. Although she wanted to become a physicist like her father and even win a Nobel prize, she later realized her real interest lay in entrepreneurship. She started working in Mantis information, a telecommunications start up in the United States where she gained experience in the Telecom, IT and entrepreneurship fields. After a year, she worked at a consulting firm called SEI Information, helping entrepreneurs effectively socialize.
The idea was to be a path-breaker in whatever I did.”
It was a process of discovery for me, in terms of realising my strengths and weaknesses and capitalising on what I was best at.”
Breakthroughs
After returning to India at the end of 1999, she launched two companies called ‘Bandwidth Bazaar’ for Bandwidth trading and ‘VoiceGram’ which was based on the idea of integrating voice and text mobile. The domains didn’t work out and eventually shut down. Anuradha Acharya, however, remained unwaivered.
Entrepreneurship is not just about great ideas, it is about perseverance and dedication.”
She co-founded Ocimum Biosolutions in 2000 in Hyderabad with her husband, Subash Lingareddy. It was a biotechnology organization with a main focus on product development and contract research, a totally different career than she had her expertise in. From studying Physics to genomics, bioinformatics, molecular and computational biology, Anuradha Acharya took a big leap. Her endeavours started becoming fruitful with the promising progress of the Human Genome Project (HGP). Sometime after, she was joined by Dr. Sujata Pammi, another co-founder of Ocimum Biosolutions.
I am always interested in learning new things and the sector was very interesting and completely new to India.”
Her next achievement came in the form of Mapmygenome, a genomic company founded by her, with specialization in Genomic database computation. Despite financial crisis, she established the company with her own savings.
Mapmygenome
Mapmygenome, a genomic diagnostic company founded by Anuradha Acharya
With personalized health solutions and actionable diagnostic approach towards one’s health, Mapmygenome helps people to understand their body better. They work towards wellness products under a diverse range of categories including wellness (Genomepatri), Beauty (Beautymap), Gut health (Mapmybiome), Sports, fitness & nutrition (Myfitgene), Drug response (Medicamap), Heart health (Cardiomap), Cancer (Oncomap), Ancestry (Genomepatri Heritage), and Nutritional counselling.
Genome diagnostic products from Mapmygenome
Anuradha Acharya at the Mint Digital Innovation Summit and Awards events, Bengaluru, 9 June 2023
Genomepatri
Genomepatri logo, the wellness product from Mapmygenome
She developed a revolutionary product called Genomepatri that allow people to know their gene sequence and help them identify the diseases they might be prone to. Genomepatri is marketed via attention grabbing campaigns, that helps more people know about the phenomenon and benefit of knowing one’s genetic composition. It is currently available at ₹7,999.00 (price may vary).
Getting your palm read is so old-fashioned. Really. Who does that? @anuacharya @mapmygenome #genetesting #dnatesting #genomics #predictandprotect pic.twitter.com/mtwDvfQVhx
— Swapan Seth (@swapanseth) July 10, 2023
Present
Anuradha Acharya has a plethora of achievements in her name. She has been appointed as a Governing Board Member at CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research), and at NIBMG (the National Institute for Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani, West Bengal). In addition, she also held the position of President of the Hyderabad Chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization in the past. She currently serves:
- On the board of Association of Biotech Led Enterprises (ABLE)
- As the Vice Chair Board on the Global Agenda Council on Genetics,
- As a board member for the Association of Biotech Enterprises,
- On the board of mentors at IvyCap Ventures
- On the advisory board for the Action for India
Anuradha Acharya at the PrecisionMed Exhibition & Summit, Dubai, 23 May 2023
Challenges
Around the time of the launch of Mapmygenome, she has to face a number of difficulties including shortage of indigenous talent and sufficient funds. Genomic database was still a new concept in India trying to find its footing. Genomic testing was an unclear concept as per Indian regulations and hence, it was always an uncertainty. Despite all these challenges, Anuradha Acharya made her dream project happen.
Remember that you are an entrepreneur, not a ‘woman tech entrepreneur’. You are likely to have it twice as difficult, be prepared for that. Build a great team and a fabulous product. Create a legacy.”
Literary Work
She is a poetry, literature, photography, music, and fitness enthusiast. She has published her book on Poetry called ‘Atomic Pohe- Random Rhymes at odd times- On Science, Non Science and Nonsense.’ . In the book ‘Pharmaceutical Outsourcing: Discovery and Preclinical Services (Pharmaceutical Outsourcing, Volume I), she has written a chapter on Research as a Service (RaaS) . She has an article named ‘What mergers can do for you,’ published in the Nature Biotechnology. In addition, she actively contributes in renowned newspapers and magazines.
Awards, Honours, & Achievements
- She was listed in Red Herring’s 25 Tech Titans under 35 in 2006.
- She won Astia Life Science Innovators Award in 2008.
- She was named as Biospectrum Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008.
- She received the honour as Young Global Leader in the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2011.
- She was mentioned in the Member of Young Leaders Forum (British High Commission, 2013).
- She was awarded with ET Women Ahead honor by the Economic Times in 2015.
- Under her tenure, Mapmygenome has won various awards including Emerging Company of the Year 2015 (Govt. of Karnataka), T Startup Awards 2015 (Women Ahead), VCCircle Innovative Healthcare Startup (2015), E, Nasscom Emerge 50 (League of 10), SMART CEO List of Top 50 Startups, etc.
- She was listed in the W-power trailblazers by Forbes in 2018.
Favourites
Anuradha Acharya is an avid adventure sports lover. She also follows football. She attended the FIFA World Cup 2022.
Anuradha Acharya at FIFA World Cup 2022
Facts/Trivia
- While living on the IIT Kharagpur campus, Anuradha got intrigued with Physics and wanted to become a Physicist. During her school years, she used to spend most of her time in the library, doing experiments in the Physics lab or playing basketball.
- Her father played huge role in her character development while growing up. He taught her many life lessons that enabled her to take the right course in life.
- In her childhood, her father used to reward her and her siblings for doing house chores. It was another life lesson from her father, teaching them the value of labour.
- Mapmygenome raised $1.1 million in 2015 with cumulative support of angel investors.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn