Plant-based Air Purifier Startup UBreathe Secures Deal on Shark Tank

UBreathe (L to R) Shubham Singh and Sanjay Maurya

UBreathe secures a deal of ₹1.5 crore from Namita Thapar

UBreathe, a bio-tech startup that develops plant-based air purifiers, secured a deal of ₹1.5 crore from Namita Thapar on the popular television show Shark Tank. The episode featuring the company was aired on 14th February 2023.

In the episode, the UBreathe team delivered a pitch highlighting the critical impact of air pollution on our health. The 30-year-old founder, Sanjay Maurya, and 28-year-old Head of Product, Shubham Singh, began by indicating their age as 45 and 50, referencing how high air pollution levels in Indian cities are aging our lungs faster. A recent study indicates that an average person in Delhi loses 10 years of life due to air pollution. Sadly, this problem has increased geographically with even states such as Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh seeing people lose an additional 2.5-3 years of life expectancy. The team further explained how the existing air purifiers not just fail to address the indoor air quality problem holistically, but also have a negative environmental impact.

UBreathe Life

UBreathe’s unique purifiers combine the natural air purifying capabilities of plants with modern technology. Their proprietary design boosts a plant’s natural process of removing pollutants from the air with improved soil breathability. Unlike mechanical purifiers that filter only dust pollution and are highly toxic to the environment, their solution captures all the contaminants in the air. The product is tested and certified by NABL Labs and has been reviewed and recommended by faculty of AIIMS Delhi.

The startup, established in 2018, was founded by Sanjay Maurya, Akhil Gupta, Akshay Goyal, and Inderjeet Rao - a diverse team of graduates from renowned institutions such as IIT, IIM, Harvard, and MIT Media Labs with a cumulative experience of over 35 years in tech-innovation, design, and entrepreneurship.They came together with a vision to build a world-class consumer product from India to tackle air pollution, while being environmentally friendly and sustainable.

UBreathe’s research is backed by premier institutes such as IIT Ropar, CIIE.CO IIM Ahmedabad, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (Meity), Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), and the Nexus US Embassy Delhi. The company has filed 6 patents in India and Europe.

Commenting on the deal, Sanjay Maurya, CEO and Co-Founder, UBreathe, said, “We are truly thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Namita Thapar and to be able to bring UBreathe to a wider audience in India and abroad. Namita's extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry gives her an in-depth understanding of the time and effort necessary to develop a product like UBreathe. For the last several years, we have had the privilege of making a real difference in the lives of 1000+ customers. Over the next couple of months, we will be taking up marquee projects with offices and private and public schools to reach out to more people and make a bigger impact on on their overall health”

Commenting on the market opportunity, Sanjay added, “As per a recent report, the $335B global market for Indoor Air Quality Solutions is now expected to grow at 8.28% in the next 4 years and Covid-19 has been a key driver for this growth. The pandemic has brought global attention to the issue of indoor air quality and the need to manage it to prevent airborne transmission of the virus. A product like ours can make a significant difference to millions of people"

Recently, UBreathe has taken on high-profile projects with the goal of making a larger social impact. These projects include air quality management initiatives with the UN House Delhi, the Government of Maharashtra, and public primary schools in Chennai.

About UBreathe

Incorporated in 2018 in Gurugram, Haryana, UBreathe is a biotech startup that focuses on uniquely combining nature, engineering, and design to build solutions for solving the air quality crisis in urban areas. Their research and development is backed by prestigious institutions such as IIT Ropar, CIIE.CO IIM Ahmedabad, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), and the Nexus US Embassy Delhi.

The company currently has three commercial air purifying products – ‘UBreathe Life’ & ‘UBreathe Mini’ for indoors at home & office; and ‘UBreathe Wall’ for semi-open areas like metro station, airport, malls etc.

For more details, visit, https://www.ubreathe.in/

Molekule Air Purifiers Expand to India based on NRI's Invention that Destroys Airborne Pollutants

Award-Winning PECO Air Purification Technology, developed by NRI & Distinguished Professor Dr. D. Yogi Goswami, available via Amazon.in

Molekule, the U.S. leader in reinventing air purification, today announced that its award-winning Photo Electrochemical Oxidation (PECO) air purification technology will be available to Indian consumers through Amazon.in. This is Molekule's first commercial entry into India.

Molekule delivers scientifically advanced air purification solutions using proprietary PECO technology, which was developed by distinguished professor and Non-Resident India (NRI) Dr. D. Yogi Goswami. PECO technology is capable of destroying a wide range of airborne pollutants compared to traditional air purifiers. The broad range of pollutants addressed by PECO includes the destruction of bacteria, viruses, mold, chemicals and particulate matter in the air, among many other contaminants. Molekule has seen a rapid surge in global interest for its products.

Molekule's initial offering to the Indian market through Amazon will be its award-winning Air Mini device, at a retail price of $37999 Indian Rupees (INR). Replacement filters will retail for $4449 INR. Devices will begin shipping mid to late October.

"This is an important time for Molekule to enter the Indian market, and one could not ask for better partners than Amazon.in terms of making it happen," said Yogi Goswami, Co-Founder, Chief Scientist of Molekule. "There is a great need for innovative technology that can help provide an added layer of protection from airborne pollutants – even inside one's home or business – and solutions like ours do just that, by not just filtering the air, but by destroying harmful pollutants within it. Expanding our distribution footprint in India means that more people can breathe cleaner air and we are excited to bring this technology to the people of India."

Dr. Goswami emigrated to the United States in 1969 for graduate studies in Mechanical Engineering. He is currently a distinguished professor at the University of South Florida, where he is also the Director of the Clean Energy Research Center, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. Molekule was co-founded by Dr. Yogi Goswami alongside his daughter, Chief Executive Officer, Jaya Rao, and son, Dilip Goswami, President & Chief Technology Officer.

Molekule's scientifically-proven air purifiers are designed and built to destroy a wide range of pollutants, including bacteria, viruses, mold, chemicals, and allergens. Molekule's technology is whisper-quiet, ozone-free and destroys pollutants at the molecular level. Various independent air quality testing laboratories and internal testing has validated the effectiveness of Molekule's proprietary PECO technology, backed by testing papers.*

*Virus testing conducted on MS2 Bacteriophage.

About Molekule

Molekule is a U.S. based company, who is on a mission to provide clean indoor air to everyone, everywhere. Based on more than 20 years of research and development, our patented Photo Electrochemical Oxidation (PECO) technology destroys the widest range of tiny pollutants, including VOCs, mold, bacteria, viruses and allergens. Using science to revolutionize air purification in ways that the industry hasn't seen, PECO sits at the crux of Molekule's air purification technology and has been rigorously validated by continual third-party laboratories and continual internal testing. We believe air pollution is one of the greatest challenges of our time, as it has been attributed to seven million premature deaths a year, according to the World Health Organization. This is why we are dedicated to the fight for clean air and are actively working with scientists, doctors, sufferers, and policy-makers to offer a fundamentally different approach to air purification.

Ship & Shore Environmental launches Industrial Air Purification System amidst the Rise of COVID-19 Cases

This industrial air purification system is innovated to bring peace of mind back to the public amidst the rise of COVID-19 cases

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, businesses worldwide remain highly concerned and invested in protecting their staff and customers from potential infection. Leveraging their many years of leadership in clean air solutions and industrial air pollution control, Ship & Shore Environmental, Inc. (S&SE) today announces the official launch of the Korozon System, a unique product line under the Ship & Shore Technologies (SST) subsidiary. The Korozon System is a series of decontamination and disinfection technology that uses antimicrobial activated oxygen to help purify a building's air and surfaces that may be harboring bacteria, viruses, and other organic health hazards and offers several advantages over alternative disinfection processes and provides peace of mind for businesses and organizations seeking to protect those in their workspaces.  

The Korozon System

The Ship & Shore Technologies Korozon product line debuts with its first solution that is available for any enclosed space as well as integrates with a building's existing HVAC system. The Korozon generator continuously monitors activated oxygen output and helps to circulate clean, disinfected air throughout a facility.Ship & Shore Technologies takes special care to advise and even assist customers so that the safest, most effective disinfection practices are observed.

With its multi-stage effectiveness, this technology can be custom engineered for a small room or scaled up for deep disinfection use by a large industrial facility. As with all other Ship & Shore industrial solutions, the Korozon System can be designed to best fit a client's application and setting. Initial target markets include:  

• Hospitality industry (hotels, motels, resorts)
• Airplanes and airports
• Public transportation      
• Malls and stores     
• Casinos and convention arenas
• Schools, universities, and student centers   
• Gym, spas, and recreational areas     
• Libraries    
• Industrial cleaning facilities     
• Manufacturing facilities

How Activated Oxygen Works

Activated oxygen, or ozone (O₃), is a reactive molecule that readily gives off an oxygen atom to break down into ordinary dioxygen (O₂), that which we breathe to live and thrive. The third oxygen atom easily bonds with many other types of molecules, thus altering their composition.

With viruses such as the coronavirus, this free radical oxygen atom diffuses through the pathogen's protein coat and into the underlying nucleic acid, where it then damages the RNA the virus needs to replicate. Many studies have amply proven the virucidal abilities of activated oxygen to inactivate the SARS virus, and an increasing number of studies claim similar results against today's COVID-19-causing SARS-CoV-2.

The Korozon System involves innovative use of activated oxygen generators backed by S&SE's years of engineering calculations and safety protocol experience to allow for a safe and effective method for disinfection and air treatment. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) suggests that workers not be exposed to more than 0.05 ppm concentrations in the workplace. Equipped with several analyzers as well as a PLC/HMI controls system to monitor the unit, provide instant alerts, or shut off as needed, the Korozon System is uniquely designed for activated oxygen concentrations that are high enough to inactivate pathogens while operating well below the 0.05 ppm limit so as not to oxidize surfaces or harm personnel present in the area.  

Rendering of the mobile Korozon System prototype

Activated Oxygen Advantages   

Activated oxygen is so effective that it has been employed in a variety of ways for over a century. Modern applications go far beyond disinfection ranging from odor control to groundwater remediation, oil and gas industry, fracking applications, to ink adhesion in packaging.

Environmental decontamination is common in industries such as pharmaceuticals food production. Many alternatives exist for such processes, but drawbacks abound.

For example, vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP) tends to be cheap, stable, and easy to disperse in a chemical fog. However, for best effectiveness, environmental temperature and humidity must be controlled for extended periods, and surfaces should be pre-cleaned. VHP also has difficulty in penetrating organic biofilms and residues.

Ultraviolet light is easy to implement as a disinfectant, but being light, is prone to not disinfecting in shadowed areas. Chlorine dioxide is often used to disinfect water, but it can also be employed as a room disinfectant in gaseous form. However, chlorine dioxide can be unstable, even explosive. Chlorine is a byproduct of chlorine dioxide production, and some chlorine dioxide byproducts can cause health problems in some people.

Unlike many other disinfectant approaches, trioxygen is produced on-site through a reaction between O₂ and an electric discharge. There's no hazardous material to transport or store, and no hazardous waste. The Korozon System is remarkably eco-friendly.

Additionally, activated oxygen is more effective at destroying pathogens than chlorine. And unlike ultraviolet light and chlorine methods, activated oxygen disinfection inhibits microorganism regrowth.

For more information about deploying the Korozon System, please contact Ship & Shore Technologies. Media outlets are encouraged to contact Energía Communications to learn more and schedule product/technology briefings.

About Ship & Shore Environmental, Inc.

Ship & Shore Environmental, Inc. is a Long Beach, California-based, woman-owned, certified business specializing in air pollution capture and control systems for industrial applications. Ship & Shore helps major manufacturers meet Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) abatement challenges by providing customized, energy efficient air pollution abatement systems for various industries, resulting in improved operational efficiency and tailored "green" solutions. Since 2000, Ship & Shore has been prepared to handle and advise on the full spectrum of environmental needs with its complete array of engineering and manufacturing capabilities and global offices around the U.S., Canada, Europe, Middle East, and China. The Ship & Shore Technical Engineering Team has custom designed tailored solutions for clients throughout the world.

Researchers from Stanford, AIIMS, IIT Unveils Car Air Sanitizer that Purifies Air in Car in 2 Mins as per WHO standards

Diwali is the festival of celebration spreading joy, happiness and good wishes for Health & Wealth. But during this phase of period, our best wishes for health comes at stake with the massive attack of pollution in Delhi.

The Post Diwali period of one month is considered as the Red Alert period in Delhi & surrounding areas. At times, it has been observed that the Delhi Government have to forcibly close the schools and colleges to safeguard children’s health. Even Odd and Even scheme is introduced from time to time to control the pollution. This year as well Odd & Even Scheme is scheduled from 4th Nov till 15th Nov 19. All efforts by government and other concern private bodies have been put in to fight with this situation.

[caption id="attachment_137094" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Airlens - Product pack[/caption]

With the goodness of technology, people use Air Purifier in their Homes and Offices. But there is a big gap of any product that could clean the air and make life comfortable in Cars when you are on the move. Keeping this in mind Persapien Innovations, a company promoted by a team of researchers, clinicians, engineers and designers from Stanford University, AIIMS, IIT, and Singapore University have introduced Airlens Car Air Sanitizer, a novel method of air purification in cars in 2 Minutes based on Active Molecular Technology.

[caption id="attachment_137095" align="alignleft" width="300"] Dr Shashi Ranjan, Director of Persapien Innovations[/caption]

"Airlens is not a product, but it is a philosophy, which aims at making air pure and healthy. It is based on Active Molecular Technology, which has the USP of removing all the pollutants from the air but, unlike traditional filters, it does not block the airflow and let the air flow through it seamlessly. It also protects you from Pollen, Germs, Bacteria, PM2.5 etc.” says Dr Shashi Ranjan, Director of Persapien Innovations.

Advising on the need for this product, Dr Shashi said, “according to recent study of WHO, 1 life is lost in Every 23 seconds due to Air Pollution in India. We intake/Breathe 12000 liters of Air every day and if it is not sanitized it does harm your body. Air Pollution Leads to Short term and long term effects in body specially in Children and senior citizen like Heart disease, Lung Cancer, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder, Stroke, Nausea, headache etc."

Briefing further he said, “When one sit inside a car, one feels safe from pollution especially when the air conditioner is ON but in reality the air inside a car is worse than that outside. This is because inside the car's AC systems, there is no technology that filters out PM 2.5, PM 10 and other pollutants from the air. The outside-polluted air keep gushing in and keeps on circulating and concentrating as there is no purification mechanism against these pollutants. Ironically, car always run on roads, which are highly polluted due to traffic jams. Hence a bold attempt was required to solve this problem, which we did with the launch of Airlens in India."

Airlens CAS- Car Air Sanitizer has been designed by Indian scientists according to Indian conditions. It purifies the air inside the car as per WHO standard in less than 2 minutes.

Technically, Airlens is easy to install in any car. It is connected to CAR AC ventilation system & can be hidden somewhere inside the car's dashboard or bonet. So there is no pain of switching on another device, simply just start the AC fan and enjoy fresh Air in your car. It even does not require any extra space inside the car.

Manufactured in India under “Make In India”move, the product is priced at an affordable cost of Rs 999/=. The average life of the product is for six months and there are different models for different car models. The product is available at all leading automobile Workshop & Showroom in Delhi & NCR & online at amazon, Flipkart & airlens.in

Bangalore-based 'Clean Air-as-a-Service' IoT Startup Clairco Raises Funds from AngelList

Clairco - Clean air-as-a-service company which offers air quality monitoring & purification services, raised its first round of funding from AngelList. The funding round was led by Prakhar Agarwal – head of investments, AngelList India.

Part of 3rd cohort of real estate accelerator - Brigade Reap, Clairco is an IoT based air quality monitoring and purification company that uses low drag air filters which can be retrofitted to any type of air conditioning and turn them into air purifiers. This helps save a lot of money by not spending on expensive hardware. Clairco has developed this patent-pending air purification system to help address the issue of indoor pollution.

With Clairco closing its first round of funding, the company plans to use the freshly raised capital to expand Clairco's footprint to key cities across the country and strengthen its core-technology team. Incubated in early 2018, Clairco's air monitoring and purification services are currently being implemented in the premises of India’s biggest health/fitness and home rental brands. The company is also executing paid pilots for schools, office spaces, tech parks, and hotels both luxury and budget.

Speaking on leading the funding for Clairco, Prakhar Agarwal – head of investments, AngelList India said “The magnitude of the pollution problem in majority of the Indian cities and the total inaction in dealing with it has been bothersome. For the past couple of months, I was actively scouting for start-ups that are innovating in this space and have a scalable solution beyond just pollution monitoring and analytics. Clairco’s patent pending technology provides a full stack solution to tackle this issue. Given the marquee clients they are working and conducting pilots with, reaffirms my belief of backing the right company”.

Aayush Jha, founder Clairco quoted “The backing of AngelList adds immense value to Clairco that goes just beyond capital. We will also be banking on their rich experience and network to expand to new cities and work at strengthening our core-technology team”.

With 14 out of 20 most polluted cities in the world in India, and the cost of asthma medication reaching a record 55,000 crores per year, the indoor air quality monitoring market is estimated to reach 33,000 crores ($4.63 billion) by 2022.

Working on the concept of predictive intelligence on the connected devices, Clairco analyses air quality data of a particular premise on a real-time basis and installs ultra-low resistance air filter in existing air conditioning units and converts them into smart air purification system.

Clairco charges its customers a monthly subscription fee for businesses of all sizes and scale. This helps businesses ensure a better experience without investing considerable capital expenditure. Our technology enables us to be the only company in India that can guarantee clean air for indoor spaces."

Clairco founder Aayush Jha (CEO) is a second-time entrepreneur and has held key positions in early-stage startups before. He was the Country CEO for Brightbox a connected car's platform that was acquired last year by a Europe based insurance company and also the head of business development at Saif partners funded Bumper.com.

Silicon Valley-headquartered AngelList is the largest platform in the world for startups to raise capital, hire talent and launch their product. Over $1.1B has been invested across nearly 3,400 global startups through AngelList which launched Syndicates in India in early 2018. AngelList Syndicates have invested in over 60 companies since their India launch.

Clairco, owned by Aliferous Technologies stands for the Clean Air Company. With a mission to help businesses offer clean, breathable indoor environments to their customers, Clairco marries intelligent connected devices, cutting-edge machine learning algorithms, and a simple upgrade to existing infrastructure, to help achieve a differentiated air quality experience. Clairco is also a part of real-estate giant, Brigade group's startup accelerator, Brigade Reap.

Chennai Startup AirOK Launches India’s 1st Locally Developed Smart Air Purifier

CHennai-based startup AirOK Technologies has launched India’s first indigenously developed smart air purifier ‘Vistar’ at Chennai on Saturday. Equipped with Wi-Fi and touch interface, the purifier has filter that is not only relatively more efficient but also last longer than other air purifiers.

Founded in 2014 by IIT-Madras alumni Deekshith Vara Prasad, Yasa Pavan Reddy and Sravan Krishna, the startup did 2 years of ground reality research and development to come up with hexagonal dual stratified filtering technology called - EGAPA (Efficient Granular Adsorbent Particulate Arrester) which can filter pollutants including air suspended particulate matter (SPM) up to 0.3 microns along with VOC`s, microbes, fungus, Pet dander’s and even gaseous substances.

[caption id="attachment_125324" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Co-founders of AirOk Technologies -
(from left) Vanam Sravan Krishna, COO; V Deekshith Vara Prasad, CEO; and, Pavan Reddy, CTO
Image - TheHinduBusinessLine.com[/caption]

The purifier named as 'Vistar 550' has coverage area of 550 square feet and will be priced at around Rs 20,000. Its indigenously developed filter will have a life of about one year, which is twice that of the air purifiers currently available in the market that typically need filter-replacecment once every 3-4 months.

[caption id="attachment_125322" align="aligncenter" width="700"] AirOK Purifier | Image credit - airoktech.com[/caption]

The purifier has been validated as positive by laboratory and field tests conducted at Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, Bengaluru and field trials by a Children specialty hospital in Chennai.

Incubated at IIT-Madras incubation cell, AirOK got ₹5 lakh seed fund from the incubation cell, which helped them test and validate the filter.

The startup had even caught the attention of Gurgaon-based SAR Group, the makers of water purifiers under Livpure brand, which then invested about ₹12 crore in AirOK, late last year. AirOK has licensed its residential segment product to SAR Group, which will be the distribution partner for it's retail air-purifier product.

The startup can manufacture up to 30 units per day currently and can increase the production capacity to 1,000 without any major additional investment.

The startup is currently targeting institutional segment which includes hospitals, hospitality, commercial real estate, food processing and manufacturing in the initial phase.

Also Read - Team At IIT-Delhi Develops A ₹10 Pollution Fighting Device

Additionally, the startup is also working on a pipeline of products in the air pollution segment in association with one of the country’s oldest and largest conglomerate, which the startup didn't disclosed. The pipeline includes purifiers for cars and kitchens. It is also indigenously working on solutions for issues such as ambient air pollution.

An another startup in Cleantech segment is Bonphul Air Products, Delhi-based product startup which makes OxyMax, which the startup claims as India's first oxygen optimizer that increases the oxygen level in the indoor air from its current level to 21%, creating an environment of freshness and vigour. Bonphul has recently raised ₹2 Crore in an Angel Investment Round from Rx Infotech and Karmesh Global Technologies.

The indoor air purifier industry is growing at 45% CAGR (compounded annual growth rate), but experts believe that with ever increasing pollution in Indian cities the growth will increase to 55-60% CAGR in the next four years.

Source - Telangana Today | References - Business Line