Seven finalists have been selected to compete for $22,500 in awards in the Fall 2020 Skandalaris Venture Competition. In anticipation of the SVC finals, on December 8, 2020, we are publishing a Q&A series with the finalists. Today's featured team is Free Dynamics. 

About

Free Dynamics, Inc. utilizes novel technology developed and patented at Washington University in St. Louis. We design electronic temperature sensors that operate without any external batteries for months. Unlike the currently available systems, our sensors are miniature and cost-effective enough to be incorporated into every vial of essential drugs that require stringent storage conditions. As a result, we can assure last-mile compliance while expecting higher accuracy. In addition, we have also shown that our system can be used for authentication which will guard the tagged assets against tampering and counterfeiting 

Industries: Pharmaceutical manufacturing, supply chain management 

Number of Employees: 2

Total Funding (as of November 2020): $50,000 from LEAP

What problem are you solving?

Cold supply chain (or a temperature-controlled supply chain) is vital for safe and effective distribution of temperature-sensitive products like pharmaceuticals and food. However, current temperature monitoring solutions have several limitations: they are bulky, expensive, and contain batteries with hazardous chemicals. Since they cannot be deployed with each vial, they do not accurately capture the temperature profile experienced by the sample. Many electronic monitoring methods require trade-offs to preserve battery life, which may lead to important events (for example exposure to out-of-range temperature) being missed.  Tackling this problem is especially vital now, because a worldwide, effective distribution of Covid-19 vaccines will be crucial to restore the functioning of society, and some of these vaccines require a consistent storage temperature of -94F. 

About the Founding Team:

Free Dynamics, Inc. was founded by Darshit Mehta and Dr. Kenji Aono to commercialize the self-powered technology developed in Prof. Shantanu Chakrabartty's lab. Dr. Kenji Aono earned his doctorate from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at WashU and is now a post-doctoral associate with deep expertise in the design and translation of ultra-low-power analog systems. He will be joined by Mr. Darshit Mehta, who is a PhD candidate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at WashU, in the final stages of his program. His thesis is based on the self-powered sensing of biomedical signals. Post-graduation, he will be working full time at Free Dynamics. and lead the commercialization efforts for the self-powered temperature monitoring of the cold chain. Prof. Shantanu Chakrabartty, inventor of the technology, will serve as our scientific advisor.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned since starting your venture?

I hadn't fully grasped the utter complexity of our society and how everything is connected before I delved deep into the pharma supply chain. I still don't claim to grasp it but I have a higher sense of appreciation for it. And thanks to this wider view, I have a clearer sense of what I want my company to achieve.

What do you love about being an entrepreneur?

I love that I have the freedom to solve problems that I am passionate about. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to see that my efforts of the last 5 years may have a positive impact on the real-world.

What words of advice do you have for those interested in starting a business?

As an early-stage entrepreneur, I consider myself to be more on the receiving end of such advice than on the giving side. From what I have learned till now, I would say being proactive, reaching out to all sorts of people (i.e. networking) and effective communication are essential skills that need to be developed to be an entrepreneur. I am still learning them!

Website: http://freedynamics.tech/