Startup of the Day: OptySun, Ukraine’s autonomous water purification and disinfection technology developer 

Kharkiv-based OptySun provides a solution for purifying and disinfecting water everywhere. The idea consists of the combined use of several cleaning and disinfection agents: membrane filter, UV, ozone that can significantly reduce energy consumption and increases the efficiency of disinfection. The OptySun device can purify water under almost any conditions and kills 99.9% of bacteria. 

Optysun claims that its main motivation for the solution development is a war in Ukraine now. And as a team based in Kharkiv, a city in the immediate vicinity of the front line, partly in huge destruction, its one of the most important problems is the lack of free access to safe drinking water there. To date, despite wartime challenges, OptySun was one of the 12 Ukrainian startups that presented their solutions at the most influential tech gathering of global innovators CES 2023, which take part on January 5-8 in Las Vegas, the USA. 

In the Startup of the Day column co-founders of OptySun Bohdan Vorobiov and Roman Tomashevskiy share more details about the startup’s idea, its product, and future plans.

“The Startup of the Day column on AIN.Capital is dedicated to tech projects from all sectors that originated from the CEE countries. If you would like to introduce your project, please fill in the questionnaire.”

Tell us about your startup. How does it work?

Our startup is helping to solve one of the biggest problems – the availability of drinking water for people. OptySun is a full-cycle device for drinking water treatment that can be used in the absence of water and electrical connections and requires no consumables for operation. With our device, we want to give people the possibility of not being without drinking water even in the most severe emergencies.

How did you come up with the startup’s idea? What was the reason/motivation behind it?

Our main idea was to come up with a device that would help people not die of dehydration. It seems almost impossible in the 21st century, but the war has shown how shelling makes people stand for hours and hours waiting to get some water. How in Florida, huge sums of money are spent to deliver water to people during hurricanes, although these sums on logistics could be reduced thanks to our device.

How long did it take to reach the prototype or MVP? What did you encounter?

We have been dealing with disinfection problems for a long time but realize the problem of the lack of drinking water. The creation of the prototype itself took more than 7 months.

When exactly did you launch your product? Or when the launch is planned?

We have a laboratory prototype and are in the development stage of manufacturing an industrial prototype. At the moment, we are looking for a way to scale our startup. In half a year we’ve already made the IT-Arena top 10, managed to present our device at CES 2023, are constantly learning, and have no plans to stop there! We are doing our best to introduce not only the technology but also the device itself in the near future!

Product

Tell us about the startup’s business model. How do you monetize your product?

Our business model is based on a rapid supply of organizations that support people in emergencies.

1. B2B contracts with organizations (global and regional) that deal with the aftermath or preparation for emergencies of natural, man-made, or another origin.
2. B2C sales through dealer networks, survival, and tourism stores. Once organizations have the equipment, we also plan to resell various other things to the device, such as statistics tracking collected via our applications.

What are your target markets and consumers?

Optysun is the optimal solution for groups of people temporarily displaced in inadequate sanitary conditions, in emergency situations, including destroyed infrastructure and logistics, as well as a survival kit for residents of statistically dangerous regions in natural disasters.

What about your team? How many people are working in the startup? If you’re looking for new employees, indicate whom exactly.

Our team is a group with different experiences and knowledge, but a great desire to create a product that will solve the problems of millions of people. We not only know how to dream, we are confidently moving toward our goal, and we want to help our country first, and then the world!

Have you already raised any investments? Provide us with more details on each funding round: the amount, investors, and the purpose of the investment.

At the moment, we have $50,000 from small grants and personal investments.

What’s next? Tell us about your future plans.

Our team is used to setting ourselves big goals, so first, we will create a laboratory prototype, and then we will start to change the culture of drinking water in emergency situations around the world.