IIT grads’ plant-powered air purifier wins Rs 1.5 cr on Shark Tank India
Gurugram: A plant-based indoor air purifier built by two IIT graduates has secured Rs 1.5 crore on Shark Tank India, betting that greenery and tech can clean the air choking Indian homes.
Sanjay Maurya, 30, and Shubham Singh, 28, co-founders of Gurugram biotech startup UBreathe, pitched their purifier on the reality show last month. They opened by claiming they were 45 and 50 — a stark illustration of how air pollution is aging Indian lungs at a frightening pace.
According to the Air Quality Life Index from the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute, air pollution can shorten lives by almost 10 years in Delhi. The problem now stretches beyond the capital, with Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh residents losing 2.5 to 3 years of life expectancy.
UBreathe tackles indoor pollution by combining plants with engineered technology to filter air more effectively than traditional purifiers. The founders argue that since Indian bodies don’t respond the same way as European ones to pollution, local solutions are crucial.
