The Future is Fresher

Our all-natural coating triples the shelf-life of produce.

All it takes is the right barrier. Our coating is created from a strong and flexible network of proteins that work hard to keep your food fresh.

On a Mission to Reduce Food Waste

Every year, 40% of the US food supply is wasted—that’s 80 billion pounds of food—with serious consequences.

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Our Protein-Fortified Composite Coating Technology

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These images come from our most recent study with the USDA-FPL and the prior work that show the incredible effectiveness of our coating.

How does our solution work?

To maintain texture and moisture, our coating has a strong resistance to water transmission; this keeps the water inside the fruit, preventing it from shriveling. To prevent browning and decay, our coating regulates oxygen reaching the fruit inside. To prevent rotting, our coating also has strong anti-microbial properties - blocking out the microbes that lead to spoilage.

Our coating has lower combined water transmission and oxygen permeability for a natural-derived food coating with superior performance compared to other common coating materials.

Meet the Team

  • Dr. Neethu Pottackal

    FOUNDER & CEO

    Neethu Pottackal earned her Ph.D. from Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering at Rice University. She graduated with a B.Sc. in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University. As a Rawlings Cornell Presidential Research Scholar, Neethu actively worked in the Department of Food Science and Technology, the nation’s leading academic institution for food research. Neethu’s continued fascination with food materials led her to Rice University, where she worked to find innovative, green solutions to address food sustainability issues and improve upon the proposed technology.

    At Rice, she also was part of Rice Innovation Fellows and Rice Venture Scholars initiative. At the 2022 Rice Business Plan Competition, Neethu was one of the top 15 semi-finalists among 42 competing startups and >400 applicants, winning 1st place overall best elevator pitch and NREL sustainability tech prize of $25,000. She also secured another $25,000 as 2nd place winner at the 2022 Napier Rice Launch Challenge among 84 other startups. Currently, she is an 2026 Activate Fellow and translating Nivera out of the lab.

  • Dr. Daniel J. Preston

    ADVISOR

    Dr. Daniel J. Preston directs the Preston Innovation Laboratory at Rice University, conducting highly interdisciplinary climate-tech focused research. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the ASME Old Guard Early Career Award, and the Energy Polymer Group Certificate of Excellence. His group’s recent work has been published in PNAS, Science Advances, Advanced Intelligent Systems, Advanced Science, and ACS Nano. His lab is funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy, among other sources. Dr. Preston earned his B.S. (2012) in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama and his M.S. (2014) and Ph.D. (2017) in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following his graduate degrees, he trained as a postdoctoral fellow from 2017–2019 at Harvard University in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology before joining Rice University as an assistant professor in July 2019.

  • Dr. Ajayan M. Pulickel

    ADVISOR

    Dr. Pulickel M. Ajayan leads the Ajayan Research Group at Rice University, which is involved in the research of advanced nanomaterials with specific application areas in energy, environment, space, and biomedicine. Dr. Ajayan earned his B. Tech in metallurgical engineering from Banaras Hindu University in 1985 and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University in 1989. Currently, he holds joint appointments in the Departments of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Chemistry.

    Dr. Ajayan is a pioneer in the materials science field related to carbon nanotubes and nanocomposites, serving as advisor for several editorial boards and startups. He is one of the world’s most cited researchers, with more than 229,000 citations and an h-index of 232.

Contact us

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