All in 365 days! How this IIT Hyderabad startup transformed into company selling long-lasting sanitisers

Buoyed by the success of the company, the team is now working on developing a long-lasting muscle spray that can last for a day. (Credit: The Indian Express)

Little did Jyotsnendu Giri know that 12 months after developing a nano-formulation technique for making hand sanitisers, he will be heading his own company selling products at online marketplaces. Giri, who is an associate professor at IIT Hyderabad, has set up a fine precedent of not only churning out an innovative product in the times of crisis but also helping the innovation transition from laboratory to the marketplace. A whole range of products developed with the now patented technology by Giri and his team are available on leading online market platforms including Flipkart and Amazon, the Indian Express reported. The products which are being sold at an affordable rate include surface disinfectants, alcohol-based and foam-based hand sanitisers and antiviral spray for face masks.

Giri told the Indian Express that the response to the products in the market has been phenomenal in such a short span of time considering the team had started conceptualising the technology exactly a year ago. According to Giri what worked for the products was their long-lasting ability along with economical price. The sanitisers developed by the company last for about 24 hours and are able to kill pathogens in less than 60 seconds. Similarly, the surface disinfectants developed by the team have a lasting effect for as many as 35 days.

At present, Giri’s startup at IIT Hyderabad, Eaffocare Innovation Private Limited is looking after the research needs of the company while a separate company named KeaBiotech is responsible for the business segment. Acknowledging the extremely supportive role played by IIT Hyderabad management and facilitation of Rs 10 crore loan from the GoI’s Stand-up India scheme, Giri said that once he was sure of the efficacy of his products, he did not think of approaching a pharma company to market them.

Before joining IIT Hyderabad in the year 2013, Giri had worked for a decade in the United States. At the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic in India last year, the panic about virus spreading from infected surfaces left Giri’s mind racing to work on disinfectants. Giri’s team had also been doing their research on nanomedicine. When the team researched a few companies in the US and UK sold water-based saline-based surface disinfectants which were very expensive and took about 30 minutes to effectively kill the pathogens. The team developed a alcohol-based nanoparticle formulation that could drastically reduce the time to 60 seconds. Buoyed by the success of the company, the team is now working on developing a long-lasting muscle spray that can last for a day.