Ali Safavi, founder and CEO of Grenova, with the company’s TipNovus device that cleans laboratory pipettes for reuse (Photo courtesy Ali Safavi)
A decade ago, Grenova founder and CEO Ali Safavi was an undergraduate student working in a life sciences lab. He was struck by the observation that each time a plastic pipette was used, it would be thrown in the trash — after all, tests and experiments can be contaminated by the smallest trace of residue.
But, as Safavi realized, that practice is wasteful, both fiscally and environmentally. It was unsustainable. “We’d discard all plastic after one use, almost like a trash bag,” he says. “I saw that we couldn’t carry on like this, especially as the industry continues to grow.”
Safavi figured there was a better way to address the issue. His goal was to invent a machine to wash pipettes so thoroughly that they would be as good as new. In 2012, he completed a master’s degree in entrepreneurship at Duke University, and in 2013, he secured an initial investor for his project. Midway through 2014, he had his first prototype, and by 2015, the first machine was on the market. Safavi’s Richmond-based business was open, with a mission to reduce consumable plastic waste.
He has 10 patents on his technology, including two machines marketed as the TipNovus and the TipLumis. “The invention doesn’t just help the environment but also cuts down costs for testing labs,” Safavi explains. “If you make the initial purchase, there is a significant long-term cost reduction, because you don’t have to keep buying new pipettes.”
He says his product has helped ease potential shortages of laboratory equipment during the novel coronavirus pandemic. “When there’s a stop in the supply chain, a lab that relies on consumables has to cease operations until the problem is sorted out,” he says, “unless you have a Grenova machine on hand — then you just wash your pipettes and reuse them.”
COVID-19 has coincided with an exponential growth in value and sales at Grenova, but Safavi says that the pandemic has only highlighted the hard work done since the company was founded. Grenova saw steady growth each year before 2020, gaining market confidence and proving its technology. “COVID forced the industry to look into our product,” he says, “but we wouldn’t be having success if we hadn’t been doing the right things in the first place.”
In addition to improving his company’s technology and providing solutions for more types of plastic, Safavi says he is passionate about creating jobs, especially in the Richmond area. Originally from Iran, Safavi came to the United States as a teenager, then he spent 12 years in North Carolina, graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2005. His first bit of seed money came from an investor in Richmond, and in 2012, he visited the city for the first time.
“I didn’t know much about Richmond until the investor contacted me, and she told me I had to come see it,” he says. “I fell in love with the city — a university right in the middle of town, the river passing through, the breweries, the historical districts, the culture, the people. It has the feel of a big city, without the costs or traffic you see elsewhere.
“By the time I was choosing a place for headquarters, I’d grown to understand that Richmond had a lot to offer. With so many universities nearby, there’s a lot of young talent to recruit. It’s almost an ideal location.” He also cites policies in Virginia that are uniquely pro-green and pro-business, as opposed to some neighboring states.
