MIT grad gives a new meaning to blowin’ hot & cold

It’s the coming together of the hearth and the air conditioner. Well, almost.
    
A brainchild of 29-year-old Kranthi Kiran Vistakula, the idea for Dhama Innovations was born out of something mundane, as is the case with more than a few innovations.

In 2007, Vistakula was in the final year of his masters in mechanical engineering and technology policy at the hallowed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and he was tiring of having to remove his woolens, which was necessitated by the windy, inclement clime there, every time he entered his classroom.

“So I wondered why I can’t create a jacket which I can wear both inside and outside the room,” he says. This led him to develop a technology called ClimaCon, short for climate control, which in turn he used to create Climagear, a battery-operated sleeveless jacket whose temperature can be altered anywhere between 20 and 40 degree celsius.

Climagear functions on the Peltier effect, a phenomenon discovered by French physicist Jean Charles Peltier in the early 19th century. The effect occurs whenever electrical current flows through two dissimilar conductors. Depending on the direction of current flow, the junction of the two conductors will either absorb or release heat.

Vistakula entered his innovation in various competitions and won much-needed greenbacks. He says, “I also got grants of about Rs 65 lakh from the Indian government and IIT-Delhi and NID (National Institute of Design), Ahmedabad, offered me incubation support.”

He chose NID, and Dhama Apparel Innovations, named after his mother Dhamayanti, saw the light of the day in January 2008. The fledgling firm has since developed helmets, shoes and anti-bleeding packs, all of which along with Climagear, Dhama plans to pitch to the defence forces.

“We are doing trials with the Indian Army and will soon meet the US Navy,” states Vistakula. Other than defence, Dhama is also targeting segments such as healthcare and sports. The company hopes to clock revenues of $100 million in 5 years.

Dhama will, in two months, launch its first product in the market, a combination of hot and ice packs, whose temperature could be lowered to as much as 4 degree celsius.

“We are hopeful of completing the trials with the Indian Army in a year or so,” notes Vistakula, who says he has no time for anything but his work, even on Sundays.

Dhama received its first round of funding from Mumbai’s Angels and Reliance Venture Asset Management (RVAM) of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group.

Harshal Shah, chief executive, RVAM, says while Dhama’s technology has the potential to make it big in the defence and military space, given its affordability, it will also find enthusiastic takers in the sports and healthcare sectors.

“Kranthi’s product is highly scalable and aids in creating a ‘multiplier’ effect; consequently high value and high returns,” he adds.

The company, whose name was recently changed to Dhama Innovations, moved out of NID 2 months ago and set up shop in Hyderabad, the city its founder belongs to. Asked if the company needs to seek another round of funding, Vistakula says, “We have sufficient money and now we want to develop multiple technologies.”