What They Do

KiposTech is building active air biosecurity infrastructure for animal agriculture. Its patent-pending KiposPro platform continuously treats barn air to reduce airborne microorganisms, dust, and ammonia, while KiposEye monitors air conditions and system performance. The technology is engineered for high-airflow, dust-heavy poultry and livestock environments where conventional indoor air-cleaning systems are difficult to deploy at commercial scale.

KiposTech was founded in 2022 by Hema Ravindran, PhD, Co-Founder & CEO, and Raj Singh, Co-Founder & CTO. The idea began during the COVID-19 pandemic as a scientific response to airborne infection risk. Through customer discovery, particularly during Ben Franklin’s TechCelerator program, the founders initially identified an urgent and underserved need for continuous airborne biosecurity in healthcare. As the 2023 avian influenza outbreak intensified, they recognized an opportunity to apply the technology to animal agriculture and pivoted.

“Kipos” means “garden” in Greek, reflecting the company’s mission to create cleaner, healthier indoor spaces. Clean is the new beautiful.

The Challenge

Farm biosecurity has traditionally focused on controlling the movement of people, animals, equipment, and materials. These measures remain essential, but airborne pathogens can still travel within occupied animal housing. Heavy dust loads, continuous ventilation, ammonia, and high airflow make conventional indoor air-cleaning systems difficult to deploy and maintain at commercial farm scale.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza illustrates the urgency of this gap. According to USDA data, more than 179 million U.S. birds were affected between February 2022 and September 2025. These outbreaks disrupt farm operations, food production, supply chains, and producer livelihoods, creating a need for a continuous airborne layer within existing biosecurity programs.

How Ben Franklin Helped

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central & Northern Pennsylvania was one of KiposTech’s earliest institutional believers. Through the 2023 TechCelerator program, Ben Franklin helped the founders translate their scientific innovation into a focused commercial opportunity, strengthen their business model, conduct meaningful customer discovery, and build investor readiness.

“The TechCelerator served as a catalyst for our growth, empowering us to take the first step towards realizing our entrepreneurial dreams. The expertise and resources provided us the necessary foundation to thrive in the competitive startup landscape.”

— Raj Singh, Co-Founder & CTO, KiposTech

That relationship continued well beyond the initial program. As KiposTech progressed from an early MVP to independent university validation and commercial-scale pilot preparation, Ben Franklin remained a steady source of investment, mentorship, strategic guidance, industry connections, and advocacy. Its support helped KiposTech navigate the difficult transition from promising deep technology to a company preparing for real-world commercial deployment.

“Ben Franklin saw the potential in KiposTech at a very early stage and helped us give that potential commercial direction. They first helped us shape the business through customer discovery and the TechCelerator, then continued with funding, mentorship, connections, and guidance as we advanced toward commercial validation. Ben Franklin has grown with us through each stage, from an early supporter to a trusted partner helping us take the next leap.”

— Hema Ravindran, Co-Founder & CEO, KiposTech

Key Outcomes

• KiposTech has secured more than $1 million through investments, grants, awards, and other non-dilutive funding to advance product development and commercialization.

• In a controlled 200-bird university study, KiposTech’s technology demonstrated approximately 55% to 90% lower airborne bacterial levels across test days, with a peak reduction of 97%, and 75% fewer susceptible birds infected compared with the control group. These results should be presented specifically as outcomes from that controlled study.

• KiposTech has advanced from its early MVP to commercial-scale KiposPro systems supported by KiposEye air-quality monitoring and is preparing for commercial validation with a leading Pennsylvania poultry producer.

• The company was named Runner-Up in the 2026 American Farm Bureau Federation Ag Innovation Challenge and a Global Top Four finalist in the World Food Prize Foundation’s Innovate for Impact Challenge.

• Ben Franklin’s support has evolved alongside the company, beginning with the TechCelerator program and continuing through follow-on investment, mentorship, strategic connections, and commercialization support.