CodiKoat venture supported by the Accelerate Cambridge programme at Cambridge Judge Business School is awarded £325,000 in UK government grants to help further develop its nanoparticle coating technology that kills viruses on any surface.
The venture, which is currently on the Accelerate Cambridge programme run by the Entrepreneurship Centre at Cambridge Judge, has developed a patented coating technology designed to inactivate viruses including COVID-19 within seconds when applied to any highly touched surface – hard or soft, smooth, curved or flat.
Innovate UK recently awarded two grants totaling £325,000 to CodiKoat in collaboration with two UK-leading adhesive material and face mask manufacturers to develop antiviral/antimicrobial adhesive sheets and facemasks.
The company, based in the EpiCentre innovation facility in Haverhill, Suffolk, recently had a virtual visit by UK Secretary of Health Matt Hancock. “That’s amazing, I could see the benefit of this immediately including within the NHS,” Mr Hancock commented.
Dr Reza Saberi, Co-founder and Executive Director of CodiKoat, said: “Our unique anti-viral surface coating blends electricity and chemistry to provide simple, immediate and long-lasting protection against microbes and viruses, including COVID-19. We hope it will help the society get back to normal quicker.”
Talking about the Accelerate Cambridge programme, Dr Saberi said access to a team of business experts at the Entrepreneurship Centre gave “invaluable advice and direction in order to speed up our progress.”
The next step for the company is to pilot the technology in different sectors such as care homes, ATM and Hotels. Interested companies which seek to run pilot tests of CodiKoat antiviral/antimicrobial adhesive products should get in touch with the team.