For 4.5B people lacking water/sewer infrastructure, we've developed the iThrone, a no-flush toilet that makes waste disappear using an evaporative material that converts waste to water vapor
Current Status
2 customer-paid field pilots have proven the iThrone's efficacy & key market use cases: UK-govt-funded pilot for public toilets in non-sewered urban areas; pilot funded by a construction company to demonstrate the iThrone can be installed in & provided sanitation for unsewered urban homes. Additionally, we've received $400K in paid contracts & inbound inquiries/LOIs for 6000+ units from building contractors, portable sanitation companies, manufacturers of transportation equipment & governments. Scale market launch of the iThrone is targeted for 2026. 2 international patents filed.
Problem or Opportunity
4.5Bn people lack safe toilets, as they live in places with no water/sewage hookup, so they can’t flush. By 2030, 60% of us will live in cities, & 30% of city-dwellers will need 0.5Bn new non-flush toilets to be installed, due to increasing water-scarcity & under-investment in infrastructure. Available non-flush toilets are unsafe, too costly or infeasible for crowded, built-up urban areas or poor communities—they leach, require frequent (costly) waste-removal or space to install underground tanks.
Solution (product or service)
The “iThrone” is a portable, waterless toilet that eliminates daily waste at the point-of-use by EVAPORATING its water content. Our core technology is a proprietary breathable membrane (aka “shrink-wrap for crap”) that soaks up LIQUID-water (95% of human-waste is water) from one side of the membrane, & by pulling it through to the other side, converts it into VAPOR (basically evaporation but without needing power or heat). So, the iThrone can eliminate 95% of waste that it collects within ONE DAY, without flush-water, sewage-pipes or infrastructure-hookups.
Business model
We'll generate revenues, selling iThrone toilets & monthly evaporative bag replacements. Initially, we'll out-license production & distribution of toilet hardware to our customers (construction companies, portable toilet companies--who have existing manufacturing capacity & local supplier networks) while WE produce & sell the replacement bags. This allows us to: launch lean; achieve rapid scale internationally & protect key IP. We will sell B2B initially, targeting toilet installers (building contractors--who need toilets for non-sewered urban development) & portable toilet operators.
Incubation/Acceleration programs accomplishment
2024 UPLINK/World Economic Forum Top Innovator; 2024 Scale4Cleantech Manufacturing Bootcamp; 2022 Urban Water Challenge; 2021 100+ Accelerator; 2020 Pax Momentum Accelerator; 2020 Ray of Hope Biomimicry Accelerator; 2020 Verge Competition; 2020 Salto Moonshot Permacolony Bootcamp; 2019 SDG Impact Accelerator; 2019 MIT SOLVE; 2018 Insead Social Entrepreneurship Programme; 2018 Cartier Women's Award Initiative; 2018 Chivas Venture; 2018 Imagine H2O; 2018 Humanitarian Grand Challenges Awardee; 2017 Lemelson/AAAS Inventor Ambassador; 2017 Cleantech Open
