For Dinesh Kumar, Founder of Erytos Technologies, the idea for his startup came from a personal experience.

His mother had fallen at home and sustained a spinal injury. Unable to move, she remained on the floor for nearly one and a half hours before Dinesh could reach her.

“That incident made me think about how many elderly people spend time alone at home and what could happen if there was no one around when they needed help,” he says.

That question led him to explore how technology could support elder care, particularly as India’s ageing population continues to grow. With a background in Electronics and Communication Engineering, an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and experience working with radar technology, Dinesh saw an opportunity to apply his technical knowledge to a problem that was deeply personal to him.

In 2024, he began working on what would eventually become Gerytos, a contactless, AI-powered monitoring solution for senior citizens. He later made the decision to leave his job and pursue the venture full-time.

That decision marked the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey.

Care Without Compromising Privacy or Dignity

For Dinesh, privacy was central to the product.

“Cameras can make people feel like they are constantly being watched. Wearables also depend on the person remembering to wear and charge them. We wanted to build something that could monitor a person's safety without interfering with their privacy or dignity,” he explains.

Gerytos uses sensors and AI to monitor parameters such as heart rate, respiratory rate, activity and sleep, while also detecting falls and triggering alerts.

The larger vision is to move beyond responding to emergencies.

“If we can understand changes in activity, sleep or other patterns over time, we may be able to identify risks earlier,” says Dinesh.

From an Idea to a Working Product

Building a DeepTech hardware product came with challenges.

“One of the biggest challenges was finding the right technical expertise, especially in radar technology,” says Dinesh.

As we grow, the team brought in people with relevant radar experience, explored external design capabilities and identified a design partner to support product development.

Dinesh also realised that building the company alone was becoming difficult.

“I was handling technology, sales and several other responsibilities. I knew I needed someone whose strengths complemented mine,” he says.

That led him to reconnect with Sivapradeep, who is now the company's co-founder. While Dinesh focuses on technology, and sales, Shiva brings experience in new product development, operations, supply chain, sourcing and team building.

“Having a co-founder changed the way we could build the company. You cannot do everything yourself,” Dinesh says.

Today, Erytos is a six-member team and has completed a pilot order with a premium senior living community in Chennai.

Why the Right Startup Ecosystem Matters

For Dinesh, one of the biggest takeaways from the journey has been the importance of being part of the right startup ecosystem.

“When we started, we were still at the idea stage. We did not have a finished prototype. We approached several incubators, but iTNT Hub was willing to support us at that early stage. We are now part of the iAccelerate Startup at iTNT Hub.” he says.

Through iTNT Hub, the team gained access to infrastructure, co-working facilities, labs, technical support and connections that helped them move forward with product development.

Erytos has also secured funding under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS).

“For an early-stage founder, funding is important. But access to the right people, infrastructure and ecosystem is equally important. Especially when you are building a hardware or DeepTech product, you need people who understand the challenges involved,” says Dinesh.

The fund will provide milestone-based financial support, along with access to product development, testing, certification and IP support.