Green Pyramid Biotech

Founded by Mihir Mehta

THE CHALLENGE 

Roughly one third of the food produced for human consumption gets wasted every year; this amounts to an annual loss of  approximately US$ 990 globally. In India, some states such as Maharashtra and West Bengal report post-harvest losses in excess of Rs. 10,000 crore annually. One of the ways in which the shelf life of horticulture produce is extended is by spraying toxic insecticides and pesticides. Unfortunately, rinsing with tap water alone will not remove these pesticides and chemicals, which are designed to be water-resistant.

THE IDEA 

Green Pyramid Biotech Pvt. Ltd., created under the Lab2Mkt program of the Venture Center, is working towards developing a ready-to-use biosurfactant-based formulation, that can successfully aid all household consumers to sanitize their fruits and vegetables before consumption.  This unique 100% organic formulation removes 99% of pathogens and pesticide chemical residue. Washing of fruits and vegetables in this formulation has been shown to curtail the shrinking of produce and double the shelf life of the products even without refrigeration, which can have a huge market in the rural sector, where the over 70 million households have poor access or no access to electricity.  The unique selling point of their formulation is that it does not require a rewash step in plain water, which not only helps save water but also simplifies the cleaning process for large-scale cleaning operations at distribution and export centers.

FUNDING

In 2016, IKP under BIRAC-BIG scheme provided a Government Grantof Rs 50 Lakh to Green Pyramid Biotech. With the help of this investment, Green Pyramid Biotech. was able to step up the R&D facility at Venture Center, Pune and carry out intensive experimentations and product development. Green Pyramid Biotech also received a Seed Fund of Rs. 25 Lakh from Venture Center under the TDB Seed Fund program. This investment has proven useful in obtaining regulatory approvals and certifications from NABL-accredited labs before the product hits the market. The assistance was also useful in buying laboratory equipment and moving to a bigger lab space, which allowed them to scale up the volumes of their formulation in-house to up to 1000 L/month.

LOOKING AHEAD

Green Pyramid Biotech has just launched two products: Bioclean will be for industrial use, and Evergreen will be targeted at retailers and households. They have received NPOP certification from Green Cert which qualifies their product as 100% Organic and are currently awaiting FSSAI approvals. They are further working towards developing convenient food-grade fruit and vegetable wash wipes, which can be used to clean fruits and vegetables on the go! They are also working towards making the formula applicable to seeds, seedlings and flowers to increase longevity.

MARKET OPPORTUNITY

According to PR Newswire, New York, the Organic Food & Beverage Market to be worth $84 billion in 2014 and is poised to reach 212 billion US$ by 2020. The market is growing at an estimated CAGR of 16.7% in the next 5 years.