Seven years ago, Elliot Kreitenberg and his father, orthopedic surgeon Arthur Kreitnberg, built a UV-C light machine called GermFalcon to kill viruses on planes, but the airline industry largely rejected their pitch.
Years later with coronavirus all but wiping out air travel, their machine is looking a lot more attractive.
The founders of Long Beach-based Dimer UVC Innovations are in talks with airlines, transit authorities and others desperate to disinfect airplanes, subways and other transportation vehicles where COVID-19 quickly travels.
<p>"We are in serious discussions with U.S. airlines as well as ground service providers, as well as international airlines in Canada, Europe and Southeast Asia," Elliot Kreitenberg said. The company is also talking to several transit authorities about manufacturing their product for them, although he could not reveal the names of anyone due to non-disclosure agreements.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b76cb03087272521cb62c487adbc0042"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WPeIrSTELJc?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">GermFalcon Airplane Disinfection Demo</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPeIrSTELJc" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>Artificially produced UV-C is a common method of sterilization used in hospitals or to clean drinking water, but it hasn't been widely adopted to fight the virus in transportation. That's in part because studies haven't caught up to prove it works, although the light has been shown to be effective against other coronaviruses.<br/></p><p>But, in China, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nishandegnarain/2020/04/17/how-uv-roomba-robots-could-accelerate-the-opening-of-mass-transit-systems/#11c522ca1f7f" target="_blank">busses have been blasted with the blue UV-C rays</a> in an effort to fight the pandemic. </p><p>The Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-expands-research-covid-19-environment" target="_blank">looking at UV light</a> as a solution for large-scale disinfecting in places like schools and offices. And it's attracted the interest of other government agencies, including the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority, which is considering using UVC light to clean its fleet of busses and trains. </p><p>"We're already increasing the frequency of our cleanings and we are doing more deep cleaning," said Jesus Montes, an executive at L.A. Metro's vehicle acquisition and engineering department. "To supplement that, we're looking to things such as foggers and vaporizers and UV."</p><p>Montes has been inviting UV vendors to demonstrate their products. The advantage he's found over vapors or foggers, which can cause damage to the electrical engines, is that UV rays are far less labor intensive and can be used off site.</p><p>Other companies that supply the light to hospitals have seen an uptick in sales. Kreitenberg said they have also been getting orders and expect to have up to 100 of their UV machine made for hospitals finished by mid-May. From there, they will go into production of 10 a day. He said he's already provided Paine Field Airport with a machine that's now in use. And his machine was cleaning airplanes at Los Angeles Airport that had been in-bound from China when travel had not been restricted.<br/></p><p>Dimer keeps its rays to surfaces, where it says it can kill up to 99.9% of bacteria.</p><p><br/></p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzI4MTI3OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTc4NTEzNH0.nz_bmwPOTQEBRTuCaUZ51bzv-Px2Rbv53oYR3yAhmXw/image.jpg?width=980" id="395de" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f0f3b0a772b59b87641612d7ace50bf1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Courtesy of GermFalcon
<p>"What's nice about this technology is that it's not going to promote resistance to anti-microbial agents," said Leonard Mermel, a professor at Brown University and the medical director of Rhode Island Hospital's Department of Epidemiology and Infection Control who is familiar with the technology.</p><p>Airplanes are particularly tricky because microbes can potentially survive longer.</p><p>"We know some viruses can survive certainly overnight...cooler temperatures and the dryness of airplanes actually improves survival of some viruses like flu."</p><p>Other companies offer UV lighting. But what makes Dimer's $100,000 disinfectant machine different than others that attacks microorganisms, bacterias and superbug is that it's made for airplanes. Amortized over a conservative 5-year lifespan, the machine costs 10¢ per passenger.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzI4MTI5NC9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjc2OTYwMn0.njlE2Lus3W1srIsvLbZBwkyJWXIgamy8tKKK580RQNI/image.gif?width=980" id="70fc7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a269109e752d8df9f40652b5ed57682d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Courtesy of GermFalcon
<p><br></p><p>About the width of a drink cart, the machine slides easily down an airplane aisle and has a winglike feature that spreads the light over seating. He's also making another product that's geared toward hospitals and space that aren't as tight.</p><p>A few years ago, he said he brokered a deal with Virgin America to use the GermFalcon, but it went belly up when Alaska Air Group bought the company for $2.6 billion.</p><p>Arthur Kreinberg, who is also the co-founder of the company, became familiar with the lights through his experience with them in hospitals. He then worked with his son to build their first designs in their garage.</p>
<p><span style="background-color: initial;">"(My paternal grandfather) was a Holocaust survivor and plumber and when my father graduated from medical school he said 'plumbers save more lives than doctors because sanitation plays a big role in public health.' When the toilet was invented it doubled human life expectancy. I think GermFalcon is the most important invention since the toilet."</span><br/></p><p>The World Health Organization considers those that are in contact with an individual infected on a flight and those sitting within two rows at most risk. But, airplanes have a reputation as vectors of germs. </p><p>Elliot Kreitenberg, once a frequent flier, said he's been keeping a log every time he travels of the dirtiest places on the airplane. It's not the toilet handle but, according to his own informal survey, the back of head rests where people touch as they walk down the aisle.</p><p>"Airlines play a direct role in the way that disease spreads around the world," Elliot Kreitenberg said. "We see that here with coronavirus. It flew here on airplane."</p>From Your Site Articles
- Catch Up With This Week's Startup News in Our Weekly Video Recap ›
- GermFalcon Designs Ultra Violet Light 'Drink Cart' for Planes - dot.LA ›
- CVS and UPS team up for drone deliveries to retirees amid outbreak ... ›
- Germfalcon Strikes a Deal with Honeywell to Sell, Produce Its Antiviral 'Drink Cart' For Cleaning Airplanes - dot.LA ›
- Germfalcon Strikes a Deal with Honeywell to Sell, Produce Its Antiviral Airplane Cleaner - dot.LA ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less
Jiake Liu is the founder of a startup outdoor furniture company, but lately he feels like he's running a second company — one that's helping supply local hospitals with thousands of protective masks and, in the process, rallying Los Angeles' tech community.
Liu started SoCal Tech for Hospitals in early March with the goal of raising $60,000 to purchase 30,000 masks for hospitals facing shortages. He's now helped raise nearly $200,000, delivered 50,000 hospital-grade masks and is looking to up the ante with the region's vast tech community to do good beyond the pandemic.
<p>Over the past months, he's enrolled some of the most well-known startups in town to pitch in for the logistical effort of distributing the masks. After the workday ends, Liu jumps on the phone with other founders to orchestrate the effort. </p><p>"We are really able to leverage everyone's expertise," he said. "It really is the spirit of entrepreneurship. You don't necessarily have the right answers. But you come to figure things out."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image image-crop-16x9">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzI3MTc3MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MjQyMTEyN30.WVx0C9QhDLvVkFRlZmEn7EOdjZ3meTLe97s2g3Uryoo/image.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C43%2C0%2C35&height=700" id="671cf" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9462c9374beed2f895d484c4a0abeb76" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
</p><p>His own company, Outer, uses their warehouse to store palettes of masks he's helped procure. Trucks from on-demand storage company Clutter distribute the medical supplies. While, Well Health pitches in by gauging the needs at local hospitals. Others, like the head of the rental furniture company Fernish rally venture capital donations. <br/></p><p>Early on Liu found that venture capital firms had already been bombarded with requests for donations, but his pitch was that this effort would benefit local hospitals and was different.</p><p>"We are really the only group that's like 'let's really reach the L.A. tech community,'" he said. "If you work in L.A. tech you should donate to us. It was a call to action."</p><p>It got attention. He's <a href="https://www.socaltechforsocalhospitals.org/our-supporters" target="_blank">pulled in donations</a> from some of the region's top firms including Wonder Ventures, GreyCroft, Upfront Ventures. He also pulled in donations from the online coupon cutter Honey Science Corp. and carpet seller Ruggable. dot.LA is also a contributor. In return, companies get a shout out on their website.</p><p>Among the hospitals that have received the masks are Adventist Health Glendale, Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, Dignity Health - California Hospital Medical Center, Pomona Valley Medical Center, St. Francis Medical Center, LA+USC Medical Center, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, White Memorial Community Health Center, Harbor UCLA Medical Center and Olive View UCLA Medical Center.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzI3MTc3Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTQ2MDc2MH0.wT9tvEhagfi6DHZr0BWCVDWP-FKE_-vtiBMfxq-g_z8/img.jpg?width=980" id="3d215" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="023b67c85ca59af2594a26cb53e5abb0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>Liu began the effort because a doctor couple he knew that worked at Cedars Sinai Medical Center were worried about the supply of masks, so he started a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/fight-covid19-la-startups-for-la-hospitals" target="_blank">GoFundMe page</a>.</p><p>"When I started, I just wanted to get masks for my friends, but as I started talking to folks and getting a sense of the desire to do good," he said.</p><p>Someone at the location data software company Factual saw the page and introduced Liu to the nonprofit the Count On Me Family Foundation, which is now handling the funds.</p><p>Liu's next goal is to hit $250,000 in donations, but he has a larger one. With non-profit LA-Tech.org recently joining the effort, he's looking at ways to keep the momentum going beyond the pandemic.</p><p>"Now that we have attention of the tech community, the question is can we diverge some of the energy that we captured to continue to do good?"</p>
<p><em>Editor's note: dot.LA is a contributor to the fund.</em><br/></p>Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less
Shipsi's 'Drastic Measures': Cuts Staff, Trims Customers, Adds Efforts to Weather COVID-19
Apr 28 2020
In these pandemic times, people are more isolated than they've been in our lifetimes and more dependent on technology for everything from work to entertainment to food. So you'd think that L.A. company Shipsi Inc., which is dedicated to connecting businesses across 700 cities to its last-mile delivery networks of one million drivers, would be experiencing a boom.
Spoiler alert: It's not.
In fact, the roughly 40-person company founded in 2017 has laid off half its staff as a "cautionary measure" after non-essential company closures, with Shipsi's remaining 20 or so employees now taking everything from partial to full furloughs to limit the bleeding. The company has also refined its technology to help make operations more automated and cut back on customers that require significant support or resources.
<p>"We took some pretty drastic measures initially, because no one really knows how long this is going to continue," said CEO and co-founder Chelsie Lee. "We had to make some really hard decisions."</p><p>Shipsi is hardly alone. </p><p>It's been a brutal year for retail, and for the technology platforms that support them, unless your business is related to food and beverage stores. According to the most recent monthly numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau's retail trade survey, retail trade sales were down 6.2% from February 2020 and 3.8% below last year. Food and beverage stores were up 28% from March 2019, while clothing and clothing accessories stores were down nearly 51% from last year. There's little indication that their next report, in May, will be any better.</p><p>But the company has worked hard to rise up to the challenge, whether through diaper deliveries, helping farmers who no longer have restaurants to deliver their goods to, or by launching a new less expensive product Tuesday that neighborhood stores can use to help with product delivery amid it all.</p><p>Shipsi, which is backed by Halogen Ventures, had seen strong growth prior to this, with month-over-month growth anywhere from 60 to 350%, said CEO and co-founder Chelsie Lee. Lee's company works with some major brands, including longtime California surfboard and surfwear brand, O'Neill, the retail chain Party City, and had started a pilot program with Brooks Brothers before the pandemic hit home. It's unclear what will happen with any of these arrangements once the dust settles.</p><p>Founders are "proving in this moment whether they'll make it or they won't" said Jesse Draper, founding partner of Halogen Ventures, the L.A.-based early-stage venture capital fund that invested in Shipsi and generally invests in consumer technology companies led by women.</p><p>Out of the firm's 60 portfolio companies, Draper said in a recent interview that companies have on average laid off 10 people, with as few as one to as many 60 people being laid off.</p><p>"A lot of them are doing it because they need to increase their runway," Draper said. "Some are doing it fully to restructure (because) they needed to restructure anyway. It kind of forced them into action. Most of it is just in case, these guys need to figure out if they don't have runway for 12 months they need to figure out how to have cash for 12 months.</p><p>"Even some of the ones who were doing well, had just closed a round, they were like maybe let's lay off one or two people."</p><p>For Shipsi, which had just hired additional staff at the end of 2019, the decision required Lee to reevaluate her workforce, cutting employees with a more focused skill set and betting on those who "had more depth and more breadth of skill that we could utilize in other areas," Lee said. She also weighed the fact that for some, letting them go would enable them to reap additional unemployment benefits while those benefits last.</p><p>Many of Shipsi's big retail clients are businesses that aren't providing "essential" products and so their shops that operate as distribution centers temporarily shut down. But the company has been working hard to innovate quickly to face the challenge of COVID-19 and also to help.</p><p>It's rapidly built and is deploying new products, including an instant delivery portal, so that companies that might not have the budget to pay to integrate with an e-commerce site or don't have one, can merely have customers go to a portal instead and request delivery in an hour or at a time of their choosing, as easily as if they were calling an Uber.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE3MDI1MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5OTUzNjcxN30.2mgfthBIbbZPahYHhNfyUcgSLZ2jMwnTWig9n8AJNgI/image.jpg?width=980" id="8754f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9727c38df4f96027cdb530b8f3543480" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p><br/></p><p>Their technology automatically provides shops with customer service and real-time tracking services, plus the ability to rate shops, Lee said. So far, at least 10 entities have <a href="http://www.shipsi.com/signup" target="_blank">signed up on their website</a> to trial a new beta version of their technology, which officially launched Tuesday.</p><p>Shipsi plans to also release in May an e-commerce integration that allows for stores to provide curbside pickup rather than just delivery.</p><p>The company has also moved into areas it never imagined, including helping the local community deliver supplies to families and babies in need by facilitating the delivery of more than a million diapers. The company is also working with local farmers who traditionally sell to restaurants who aren't able to do so right now, and don't have a website or the means to sell their goods.</p><p>"Really it's a matter of selling something or nothing for our current customers, which is why we developed a newer, lightweight version of our product to be able to offer it to the shop around the corner," Lee said.</p><p>Shipsi is also trying to batch orders to help drivers and stores more cost-effectively staff deliveries.</p><p>"You know, there are things we're learning through this, but it'll only make us stronger in the end," Lee said.</p><p><em>__</em></p><p><em>Do you have a story that needs to be told? My DMs are open on Twitter </em><a href="https://twitter.com/latams" target="_blank"><em>@latams</em></a><em>. You can also email me at tami(at)dot.la, or ask for my Signal.</em></p>Courtesy of Shipsi Inc.
From Your Site Articles
- startups-on-the-front-line - dot.LA ›
- Startups - dot.LA ›
- Shipsi: Refocusing on What's Essential - dot.LA ›
- shipsi - dot.LA ›
- Shipsi Lays Off Half its Staff Due to COVID-19 - dot.LA ›
- los-angeles-startups - dot.LA ›
- Here's How Bird Laid Off 406 People in Two Minutes - dot.LA ›
- Making Your Work 'Essential' in Trying Times - dot.LA ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read more
Show less