In first of its kind, Indian Institute of Technology Madras incubated a clean water technology company InnoNano Research finalized an agreement with US-based energy and water investment firm NanoHoldings for an $18 million investment. The company makes affordable clean drinking water reach very nook and corner of the country, especially areas that are affected by heavy metals.
The Indian start-up firm will be holding majority of stakes in the joint global venture.
The $18 million will be spent over a period of next five years, out of which $5 million will be spent on developing new technologies in the area of water purification – said Thalappil Pradeep, who is heading a research group at IIT Madras and co-founder of InnoNano Research.
“We have already got $3.25 million of which $1.2 million is towards international patent protection. A total of $6 million is earmarked for the first three years.
The 8-year-old IIT Madras incubated startup’s journey started about 15 years back when Pradeep and his ex-student were dabbling in nanotechnology.
Over the years, the professor along with some students, research scholars and post-doctoral fellows developed a range of technologies to tackle diverse contaminants in drinking water, maintaining international quality standards.
A business entity has already been established in Singapore, but it is yet to become operational. There are two areas of focus – One is expanding the delivery of available technologies through the global arm NanoHoldings and another is developing new technologies like trying biological methods.