: Zero-Power Instant O2 Generator Saves Lives, Ordered by Cochin Bengaluru Airports #IndiaNEWS #Entrepreneurs In 2015, mechanical engineer John Joy came up with an award-winning concept of making oxygen

Zero-Power Instant O2 Generator Saves Lives, Ordered by Cochin Bengaluru Airports #IndiaNEWS #Entrepreneurs
In 2015, mechanical engineer John Joy came up with an award-winning concept of making oxygen readily available anywhere, at any time, and more importantly, during golden hour — the first hour after a trauma or accident has occurred. He won first prize of the Medical Gas Challenge, a hackathon organised by an external agency in conjunction with GE Healthcare the same year.
Around that time, he and fellow INSEAD alumnus Sanjay Pillai had also suffered the loss of family members. “These could have been avoided if people had access to oxygen,�? says Sanjay in an interview with The Better India.
In 2016, the two founded the company O2-Matic to turn this concept into a reality. While the venture is based out of Bengaluru, manufacturing takes place in Coimbatore. Being a white space product — that is, one that’s filling a gap in the market — they had the challenge of creating and working in an entirely new category. “There are no benchmarks globally, no competition for us,�? says Sanjay.
To make oxygen readily available, the duo has conceptualised the Portia, a portable oxygen generator that produces medical grade oxygen during emergencies. It has a capacity of 200 litres and comes with two replaceable cartridges of 100 litres each. It requires no power to operate, and the founders say it requires only two steps to generate oxygen in 40 seconds.
O2-Matics oxygen generating device. Photo courtesy Sanjay Pillai.
It took the duo about six years to shape the product — from understanding the problem to research and development, and conceptualising the design and portability. The product was finally launched in 2021, and holds global patents and trademarks, except in Denmark, which has a company of the same name.
The problem
To understand the need of the product, John, in charge of the R&D for the product, started by going out and speaking with doctors from primary and secondary healthcare centres, hospitals, and clinics, as well as patients with long term respiratory diseases.
His research led to the finding that in 2015, there were only 234 locations where oxygen is available, of which 60 per cent were commercial grade and only 40 per cent medical grade. Most of these sources of oxygen were in cities. He also found that while there’s relatively easy access to oxygen within 25 km of a source, and that oxygen can be made available within a day between 25-50 km, the supply chain starts to break and takes roughly up to 72 hours. Beyond 100 km, the supply is negligible. “In rural parts, there was zero supply chain, mainly because of logistics,�? says John.
Even in cities, one has to wait for ambulances to reach patients since they’re the closest source of oxygen.

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