Pivoting during a pandemic: How our startups are rising to the challenge of COVID-19
As part of Northumberland.io Producer Alliance, a collective of community manufacturers, makers and volunteers, Clean Energy Zone startup Argentum Electronics helped produce face shields for frontline workers. Credit: Northumberland.io Producer Alliance.
What does resilience during a pandemic look like? For Clean Energy Zone startups and , the adversity caused by the coronavirus pandemic has meant considering different business models in hopes of staying afloat.
鈥淎s the coronavirus pandemic came about, a lot of companies were scared that their business would die,鈥� says Argentum CEO and co-founder, Bolis Ibrahim. 鈥淲e were quickly thinking about what products we could release right now that would help with the virus that would likely get procured and save us during this time in terms of revenue.鈥�
The Argentum team, who normally work on smart building solutions, came up with two prototypes: a COVID-19 breathalyzer using their own air-quality sensor technology, and a radar sensor that anonymously counts people and measures the distance between each person within a given space. Their breathalyzer concept didn鈥檛 make it past the development stage, while their radar sensors have recently made it to beta testing with select customers.
鈥淚t has been pretty popular with our customers,鈥� says Ibrahim. 鈥淎nonymous people counting 鈥� i.e without the use of cameras 鈥� has always been a challenge, and now it is becoming important as workplaces begin planning their COVID mitigation strategies.鈥�
Argentum integrated this new tech alongside their original products and applied for funding, which Ibrahim says was crucial in surviving this period.
鈥淲e applied to maybe a hundred different funding sources, including many project bids. Obviously we didn鈥檛 get all of them; we got rejected by a bunch," he explains. "But what happened was that we got maybe five per cent of the stuff that we applied to. Which was enough. That five per cent represented something like $100,000 in a mix of cash, credit, grants and customer projects.鈥�
The company also decided they wanted to give back to their community during such a challenging time for everyone. They did this by offering free consultation support to other startups and taking part in initiative to donate 3D-printed personal protective equipment (PPE) to frontline workers. Argentum helped produce face shields between April and May when supply lines were limited. According to the alliance, over 7,000 face shields were made and donated.
For CleanAir.ai, a smart air filtration system company, part of their survival strategy meant trying to procure government funding to develop an enhanced N95 mask using their polarization technology which optimizes the filtration of airborne bacteria, germs and viruses.
鈥淥ur technology was not being utilized in personal protective equipment,鈥� says co-founder Michael Petgrave. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where we said OK, this is something that could be novel and state-of-the-art. There could be patents potentially formed out of this. It seemed like a good opportunity for us.鈥�
In the past few months, the Government of Canada has released calls to the private sector for innovative solutions that could enhance PPE. Although they missed out on the first round of government funding, CleanAir.ai secured a pre-qualified slot for additional funding, if and when it becomes available, and received inquiries from government representatives on the startup鈥檚 ability to scale their new technology.
In the meantime, they鈥檝e been working hard to meet the increase in demand for their air filtration system, looking beyond residential and into government and commercial sites.
鈥淥ur tech is resonating very well, and I have to believe it鈥檚 because of the raised awareness due to the current pandemic that we鈥檙e facing,鈥� says Petgrave. 鈥淓verybody is reordering filters 鈥� some of them are changing them more frequently than our device really [calls for], just because they want to maintain the level of indoor air quality inside their homes.鈥�
For Petgrave, utilizing resources and networks is essential in building resilience and planning for the future.
鈥淥ur strength as a startup has been leveraging the resources and the network that we have around us,鈥� says Petgrave. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e fortunate enough to be linked to a university, a campus space accelerator, [or] you have advisors, I would just make sure that you鈥檙e reaching out to all resources that you have available to let them know your situation.鈥�
Although the hard days are far from over, Ibrahim believes that for startups, planning and strategizing is essential in navigating your business through this pandemic.
鈥淚t鈥檚 harder in the beginning to put things in a positive light, but the sooner you can do that and get out of the loop of panic, you can start to strategize,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd if you begin to strategize carefully and properly, and you put everything into perspective, that鈥檚 when you can begin to work.鈥�
July 29 update: CleanAir.ai has , based in Hartford, Connecticut, becoming part of its property technology accelerator cohort focusing on coronavirus-related solutions.
飦� Vanessa Balintec is a fourth-year journalism student at Ryerson University
"It鈥檚 harder in the beginning to put things in a positive light, but the sooner you can do that and get out of the loop of panic, you can start to strategize."