Udaipur-based agritech startup EF Polymer has been selected by Japanese government for a one-year residency incubation programme at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST). EF Polymer will also receive a funding of $10 Million as part of the programme.

EF Polymer has been part of incubation centre at CTAE, Udaipur and also incubated under the iStart Rajasthan programme.

“We were selected from over 50,000 applications from across the globe. The entire process took over four months. We went through multiple screening and interview rounds before we were chosen. With this programme, we will be getting access to R&D Labs. Since this programme is in collaboration with the Japanese government and OSIT, they have taken no equity”, said Narayan Lal Gurjar, Co-founder of ePolymer.

Their product Eco-Friendly Water Retention Polymer, is a super absorbent polymer and helps the soil in absorbing and retaining water for long time to help in crop growth. The product is completely natural and preserves soil integrity. The product is made using all kinds of bio-waste.

Narayan said that it takes almost a month to process the raw material into final product. However, their team has figured out a way to keep the cost low.

Narayan said that their current net profit is around Rs 30-40Lakhs. They received 1500 pre-booking enquiries during GRAM meet held at Udaipur in 2017. Rajasthan Government has already invested Rs 1 Cr in the startup.

Regarding the Japanese incubation, Narayan said that “Since it is a global programme, the Japanese government will be working with us closely. And if they like what we do, they will even help us set up a team and process there.”