HYGIENICA secures $1M Seed financing led by Impala Ventures, fueling the startups ability to meet market demand for its Electro-Hygiene disinfecting system.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, JULY 6, 2020 - HYGIENICA, the San Diego-based maker of industry-leading disinfecting technology, has closed its Seed Round of financing. This funding round was led by Impala Ventures, a global investment and advisory company, that has worked closely with the company since incubation.
HYGIENICA designs and engineers its state-of-the-art Electro-Hygiene System in California and manufacturers its units in Asia working with several OEMS for specific components of its atomization technology. The added investment will allow HYGIENICA to grow its team of engineering, sales and marketing professionals and continue to invest in new designs of its technology. Hygienics’s founding team have extensive experience with product design and engineering, honed at Apple, Amazon and HP and others coming from the ranks of commercial real estate and facilities operations. HYGIENICA prides itself on its missions to build technology for facility professionals to mitigate the impacts of Covid-19.
This technology was originally developed for GMP and Biotech environments, but as the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, HYGIENICA shifted its focus to adopt for more traditional building types, widening access to these enhanced cleaning and disinfecting protocols mandated from the CDC and other public health agencies.
“Since the start of this pandemic, Impala Ventures has been keenly focused on the disruptive impact of new technology and its role in disinfecting large facilities to mitigate the impacts of Covid-19” says HYGIENICA Chairman, Brian Snow. “HYGIENICA has continued to innovate in both design, engineering, serviceability and has secured its supply chain to ensure that clients can expect units shipped to them in less than two weeks.”
HYGIENICA’s current HX Pro model is the highest production sprayer in the market, producing over 20,000sf per hour and the units are designed to atomize any EPA-registered disinfectant to a micron size of 20-50uM. This precise range allows for the disinfectant to properly dwell on the affected surface long enough, typically 2-10 minutes, to kill the virus and other pathogens and germs.
Early on in its initial design process, HYGIENICA engineers decided to build the system on ULV (Ultra Low Volume) airless platform instead of electrostatic. Most disinfectants have not been tested using electrostatic technology since this process charges the disinfectant with an electric charge. HYGIENICA clients use a wide range of disinfectants depending upon the surface type and facility that is being disinfected. For this reason, HYGIENICA technology is agnostic with respect to the type of disinfectant that its users apply. HYGIENICA’s technology allows for optimal conditions to kill 99.99% of the virus when used in conjunction with EPA-registered disinfectants. Leading medical experts like Dr. Leslie Fang, have recently published research on the superior qualities of ULV technology like HYGIENICA.
Dozens of facility management groups, real estate groups, universities, hotels, casinos and distribution platforms have purchased large volumes of HYGIENICA HX Pro sprayers since March. These early adopters include BMS/Vornado Realty Trust, Daycon Products, C&W Services, SBM, GMI, American Paper, Brame, Cesars Palace, The Service Companies, Eastern Bag & Paper and dozens of others. The company partnered with Buckley & Associates as its exclusive US sales rep agency—Buckley has a long history of partnering with innovative disruptive products like ProTeam and ICE who each have been category leaders in the cleaning industry.
HYGIENICA has also been working on new designs for the dental and medical industry as well as the automotive sector where mobility is critical. In May, the company consolidated its global fulfillment and QC and shipping operations in a new 3PL facility operated by Ship Calm in Carlsbad CA, allowing the company to process over a 1,000 orders per week to its wholesale and e-comm clients. The company will release its latest model, the HX Pro Plus, later this month.