Thinking inside the box

• Imagine spending billions of dollars in pharmaceutical research to develop a life-saving drug or vaccine, yet not being able to transport it to the people who need it most due to inadequate temperature conditions. This is exactly what the cold chain industry faces, leading to an annual loss of US$35 billion in revenue!
• In addition, packaging costs make up around 30% of the total spending of pharmaceutical cold chain companies.
• Set on being the solution to this billion-dollar problem, 500-backed advanced materials company Krosslinker has been working on designing and developing aerogels, the world’s most insulating nanomaterial that is low-cost, environmentally-friendly, and scalable.
• The team’s first aerogel product, Cryar® Aerogel Board, is a first-of-its-kind product that is eco-friendly, non-toxic, lightweight, and developed through an energy-efficient process. It is a safe, compact, and sustainable solution to transport valuable pharma products, including drugs, vaccines, and clinical trial samples. What’s more, it’s reusable!
• Co-founder Gayathri Natarajan, PhD., said, “The technology we developed from several years of research to produce our silica aerogel addresses all the challenges and major roadblocks of manufacturing aerogel traditionally. With faster production and low energy consumption of the novel drying technology, our aerogel is made at half the production and capital expenditure of traditional aerogel without compromising its performance. We have demonstrated this in our current pilot production line.”
• The team is actively seeking strategic investors for their Series A funding round, and plans to use the funding to scale up commercial aerogel production for the cold chain industry and expand their R&D team.
• Read the full story here.

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