Bengaluru-based watertech startup Uravu Labs uses solar energy and non-polluting chemical desiccants like Silica to adsorb water from the air, sterilise it, and prepare for consumption. Founded in 2019 by Pardeep Garg, Swapnil Shrivastav, Venkatesh R and Govinda Balaji, Uravu Labs is dedicated to building an ‘atmospheric water generator’ that runs on 100% renewable energy.

The water-from-air concept is not new, though, as many startups already operate in the space. But unlike Uravu, most of them use refrigeration as a method to condense air in the atmosphere, which is an expensive process with high energy requirements. Uravu’s method which uses a desiccant is relatively less capital-intensive and energy-intensive and also requires much less maintenance. The desiccant used in the machine has a shelf life of around ten years, and the rest of the components are mostly conventional electronic components like fans and pipes.