Hyderabad-based RAS Life Sciences has in a span of six years achieved what many bootstrapped start-ups only aspire to. Competing with multinationals and indigenous competitors, while managing the production and sales of its products and services, RAS Life Sciences is a showcase of the indomitable will of its founders.

Their hard work and technical skills paid-off in the form of a license from India's Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) to commercialize its swine flu detection kit technology, which is a first in India, and demonstrating value to a French diagnostic giant that bet its money on RAS by picking up 60 percent stake in the company.

The company took shape in 2006 as RAS Biotech in Allahabad, India. Back then, Dr Shesheer Kumar, managing director and CEO of RAS Life Sciences, was working at India's well-known vaccine company Shantha Biotech in Hyderabad and his wife Dr Rachna Tripathi, co-founder and director of RAS Life Sciences, was busy building a career at Reliance Life Sciences in Mumbai.

They took a personal decision to abandon their respective careers and move to Allahabad to help Dr Anoop Tripathi, brother of Dr Rachna. Dr Anoop was an able pathologist running his own lab and business in Allahabad. The couple spent the following two years in helping and learning from Dr Anoop.

After Dr Anoop's untimely demise at 37 in 2007, Dr Kumar recollects, "There was an option of going for post-doc or furthering the company. We decided on going all-out with furthering the company." So, in February 2008, the company was registered in Allahabad. However, since Allahabad is hardly the place for a biotech company to flourish, the couple decided to move to Hyderabad in mid-2008. Interestingly, the company won the DST Lockheed Martin award in 2009 for LAMP based assays.