Biocon Limited is an Indian biopharmaceutical company established in 1978 focusing on biopharmaceuticals. It was India's first company to manufacture human insulin using a Pichia expression system and became India's first billion dollar biotech company. The company was founded by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw in 1978 out of her garage with an initial capital of Rs. 10,000 extracting enzymes from papaya and fish moss. It overcame hurdles in financing and recruiting due to being a woman-led biotech startup. The company switched to high-end technology with new bioreactors, enabling it to transition from industrial enzymes to biopharmaceuticals.