RTVL & Mumbai Angels invest in Dhama Apparel Innovations

16 Jun '09

5 min read

Reliance Technology Ventures Ltd (RTVL), the corporate venture capital arm of Reliance ADA Group and Mumbai Angels have invested an undisclosed amount in Hyderabad based Dhama Apparel Innovations Pvt. Ltd. Dhama's patented technology provides heating / cooling solutions to people living and working in difficult climatic environments.

The company's current line of products includes ClimaGear, a jacket/vest, ClimaNeck, a neck accessory and ClimaMet, an helmet. These products are embedded with ClimaCon technology developed by Dhama. This technology allows the wearer to select the choice of temperature he/she wants to feel, thereby allowing the wearer to adjust to harsh environments without added stress, discomfort, health problems, and reduced productivity. Dhama's products are developed to supplements the human body's thermal regulation by not obstructing sweat evaporation. Dhama's ClimaCon technology is superior to all existing technologies such as phase change or vapor compression due to its active &lightweight components. Dhama's products are targeted towards personnel working and living in extreme heat, which may cause adverse effects on the human body.

Founded in January 2008 and currently based out of National Design Business Incubator at National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, the company has received both Phase I and Phase II grant from Technopreneur Promotion Programme from Indian Government's Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR) to develop and commercialize the products with ClimaCon technology. Dhama's patented technology has won the prestigious Gold Medal at Lockheed Martin's Innovator's competition in 2008, first prize winner in the India Innovation Pioneer's Challenge, Champion of Champions category in 2008 and MIT USD 1K Business Plan Competition in 2005.

Dhama plans to use the funds raised to increase their sales and marketing capabilities worldwide and towards product innovation. The technology is of immense use to military personnel, outdoor / industry workers and sports enthusiasts.

Dhama is being promoted by Mr. Kranthi Kiran Vistakula. In the past Kranthi co-founded Intact Labs,enabler of next generation energy products, where he was the CTO. He also led a team as a Co-Principal Investigator for a NASA funded project for exploring the possibility of using proteins for electricity generation. He holds a Bachelor of Technology degree from the JNTU, Hyderabad and pursued postgraduate studies in Mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston.

Explaining Reliance Technology Ventures' investment, “Reliance has always been a pioneer in technology development.We believe Dhama's technology is a strong enabler of human body's thermal regulation, and its validation by MIT and Kranthi's winning MIT's Business Plan Competition. Dhama's product can be incorporated into any kind of apparel especially in defense and athletics toprovide heating and cooling on demand which would increase the work efficiency and comfort factor for its users”, says says Harshal J Shah, CEO of RTVL, also an

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