# Murari Ramkumar

> Murari Ramkumar is the founder and CEO of Vimano, a deeptech materials startup building PFAS-free, ion-conductive membranes for flow batteries, green-hydrogen electrolyzers and fuel cells. A materials scientist trained at NITK Surathkal and the University of Pennsylvania, he co-founded the company in 2019 with Dr. Nagesh Kini and is chasing an audacious goal: to put a Vimano membrane inside one of every two large-scale energy storage devices, electrolyzers and fuel cells on the planet. In 2025 Vimano raised roughly $2.9 million in seed funding led by Ankur Capital.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Vimano
- **Organizations:** Vimano, University of Pennsylvania (alumnus), National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal (alumnus)
- **Nationality:** Indian
- **Education:** B.Tech, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, MS in Nano Science / Master of Science of Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
- **Known for:** Founded and leads Vimano, an advanced materials startup with operations in Bengaluru and Philadelphia, Raised ~$2.9M seed funding led by Ankur Capital with eight additional investors, Scaled membrane area roughly 100x (from 25 cm2 to 2500 cm2) in about two years, moving toward meter-width manufacturing rolls

## Career timeline

- **—** — Summer Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, working with Microsensors and Microactuators groups on neuroprosthetic devices, brain-computer interface fabrication and in vivo degradation modeling
- **2019** — Co-founded Vimano with Dr. Nagesh Kini to build advanced ion-conductive membranes
- **2020** — Met early investors while working out of a lab at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), having developed first membranes for redox flow batteries
- **2024** — Won the Nanosparx Startup Pitching Competition at the India Nano Conference (August)
- **2025** — Vimano raised roughly INR 25 crore (~$2.9M) seed round led by Ankur Capital

## Achievements

- Founded and leads Vimano, an advanced materials startup with operations in Bengaluru and Philadelphia
- Raised ~$2.9M seed funding led by Ankur Capital with eight additional investors
- Scaled membrane area roughly 100x (from 25 cm2 to 2500 cm2) in about two years, moving toward meter-width manufacturing rolls
- Developed India's first anion exchange membranes for electrolysis
- Delivered first Make-in-India polymer films for satellite thermal management, with ISRO among early customers
- Achieved flow-battery capacity retention reported as 15.7x higher after 100 cycles, with 99.7% Coulombic efficiency
- Built fully PFAS-free membrane formulations for flow batteries, electrolyzers and fuel cells
- Won the Nanosparx Startup Pitching Competition at the India Nano Conference (2024)

## Latest updates

- **2025-04** — Vimano closed a ~$2.9M seed round led by Ankur Capital to accelerate commercialization, launch pilots, expand the team and build out membrane manufacturing.
- **2024-08** — Won the Nanosparx Startup Pitching Competition at the India Nano Conference.

## Links

- Website: https://vimano.biz
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/murari-ramkumar-b34a1592

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/murari-ramkumar
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-22