Fire at Bioinnovation Centre in Bengaluru estimated to have caused loss of ₹150 crore

According to government of Karnataka: “The fire broke out at the Galore Tx startup room in the second floor ESF07 lab due to improper management of solvent flammable solvent. All BBC startups were previously told to not store and use any large volume of inflammable chemicals in their lab, and a separate open storage area was provided for the same.”

A fire that broke out at the Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre, a government of Karnataka undertaking, at Electronics City on January 14 is estimated to have caused a loss of ₹150 crore. 

A fire broke out in one of the labs on the second floor around 4.35 a.m. Three fire tenders, along with the jurisdictional police, rushed to the spot. They managed to contain the fire after a five-hour-long operation. No casualties were reported. 

Preliminary estimation of the loss sustained by startups ranged from ₹80 crore to ₹110 crore. The estimated loss to Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre properties was approximately ₹42 crore, according to a statement from the Department of Information Technology and Biotechnology, government of Karnataka, which owns and runs the centre. 

According to the statement: “The fire broke out at the Galore Tx startup room in the second floor ESF07 lab due to improper management of solvent flammable solvent. All BBC startups were previously told to not store and use any large volume of inflammable chemicals in their lab, and a separate open storage area was provided for the same.

“The second floor of the facility, which was recently revamped to house more startups, was completely gutted while extensive damage was sustained by the first and ground floors due to the interconnected Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. The fire severely damaged the common infrastructure of the centre, including the Bangalore Bio Bank, Cleanroom facility, Flow cytometry, HVAC units, AC units, among others.”

Several of the Incubated startups, who had equipment of their own, also reported damage to their equipment, consumables and IP products.

List of startup gravely affected include – Fermbox (3 labs), Phyxx 44 (3 labs), Ajitha prodrug (1 lab), Galore Tx (1 lab), Ikesia (1 lab), Immunitas (2 labs) Yokogawa (1 lab).