Grenova has been featured in an informative article, titled “In a ‘growth phase,’ Richmond-based Grenova has opened a new office and production plant,” by John Blackwell in the Richmond Times Dispatch. The feature article details Grenova’s recent expansion resulting in the move to a new, 10,000-square-foot office and manufacturing plant in Clopton Siteworks.
“In the Grenova plant, engineers assemble the company’s TipNovus devices, a patented tool that Grenova sells or leases to laboratories around the world,” writes Blackwell. “Ali Safavi founded Grenova, which is short for Green Innovation, after working seven years for a laboratory automation company in North Carolina….In the laboratory automation business, Safavi noticed how many plastic materials that laboratories dispose. For instance, laboratories use large amounts of plastic pipettes, most of which go into the trash after one use.”
The detailed article highlight’s Grenova patented solution, a unique portfolio of products that were developed in a CAP accredited and CILA certified lab to wash contaminated pipette tips in large quantities for reuse. The article features a study conducted last year by a team of researchers at the National Institute of Health who concluded that using the Grenova system “has helped us to take a significant step towards operating in a more environmentally conscious manner while continuing to produce reliable high-quality data.”
One of Grenova’s customers, Ripple Foods, a California-based maker of nondairy products from pea protein, was featured for its use of liquid handling robots to test and optimize protein extraction from new protein sources and to quantify how the resulting protein functions in food. “This is where Grenova comes in,” said Bridget Smith, a scientist for Ripple Foods. “Our work on this liquid handling robot results in a lot of plastic waste through pipetting tips. With our Grenova tip washer, we’ve been able to reuse almost 40,000 tips since 2018, which is about 27 kilograms of plastic.”
Read the full story about Grenova’s growth and expansion plans for its product line here: https://www.richmond.com/business/local/startup-spotlight-in-a-growth-phase-richmond-based-grenova-has/article_f9e12709-afd2-59e3-b0fa-cf769ecd5941.html