The Bengaluru deep-tech shop making PFAS-free nanotech membranes - the thin layer that decides whether a battery, an electrolyzer, or a fuel cell actually works.
Open a redox flow battery and there is no drama inside. Two tanks of liquid, some pumps, a stack of cells - and, sandwiched in the middle, a sheet so thin you could mistake it for cling film. That sheet is the membrane. It is not the glamorous part. It does not get the press release. And it is precisely the thing that decides whether the whole machine is efficient, durable, and affordable, or a very expensive way to leak energy. Vimano decided to make that sheet its entire reason for existing.
Founded in 2019 in Bengaluru by materials scientists Murari Ramkumar and Dr. Nagesh Kini, Vimano builds ion-selective membranes for the three workhorses of the energy transition: flow batteries that store the grid, electrolyzers that split water into green hydrogen, and fuel cells that turn that hydrogen back into power. The company's ambition is stated without a hint of shyness - to sit inside one out of every two large-scale energy storage devices, electrolysers and fuel cells on the planet.
It is a strange kind of ambition. Vimano does not want to be the battery. It wants to be the ingredient inside the battery - the Intel Inside of clean energy. Which means the whole bet rests on a single, unfashionable idea: get the membrane right, and everything built around it gets better.
“We aim to integrate Vimano inside 1 out of every 2 large-scale energy storage devices, electrolysers and fuel cells on the planet.”
*Company-reported figures; approximate and early-stage.
Vimano's chemistry is a platform, not a single product. The same command of polymer films and ion transport gets pointed at very different problems - from storing the grid to cooling a satellite.
Ion-selective membranes for long-duration storage that cut ion crossover - the sneaky leak that drains efficiency. Reported ~99.7% efficiency and high capacity retention in testing.
Anion exchange membranes for green hydrogen, engineered toward state-of-the-art performance without per-fluorinated chemistry.
High-temperature fuel-cell membranes for hydrogen vehicles. Vimano cites up to 35 km of extra range per 100 km for hydrogen trucks.
Polymer films for thermal management - including satellites - spun out of the same advanced-materials know-how.
An electrochemical device is a negotiation between two sides. The membrane is the referee: it must pass the ions that carry charge while blocking the ones that waste it. Do it well and you get efficiency. Do it badly and you get “crossover” - the failure mode Vimano is built to solve.
Renewable power, or hydrogen, arrives at the device.
Ion-selective film lets charge-carriers pass, blocks the crossover that drains efficiency.
Stored power, green hydrogen, or motive force - with less loss.
Engineer and technocrat with a B.Tech from NIT Surathkal and an MS in Nano Science from the University of Pennsylvania. Focused on making clean energy accessible and affordable - and on turning lab chemistry into something you can actually manufacture.
PhD in Materials Science from IISc, with 11+ years as a Principal Scientist at Thermax, where he led a Centre of Excellence for materials science. Holds fellowships from institutions in Japan, Germany and South Korea.
Also on the bench: Ramkumar Ganesan, Head of Corporate Affairs (CPA, 20+ years across pharma, chemicals and logistics tech).
“Vimano has developed a proprietary ion-selective membrane platform, with products for both long-duration storage and the hydrogen value chain - making these devices more efficient, resilient, and affordable.”
The clean-energy story usually gets told through the big, photogenic objects: solar farms, wind turbines, gleaming battery packs. But the transition keeps stalling on unglamorous details. Renewables are intermittent. Grids fail. Green hydrogen is expensive. And a surprising share of those problems trace back to the membranes buried inside the machines - many of them built on PFAS, the “forever chemicals” now facing tightening regulation worldwide.
Vimano's pitch sits exactly there: drop the forever chemicals, keep the performance. Its membranes target long-duration storage for a renewable grid, cheaper green hydrogen for industries like steel, cement and fertilizer, and heavier hydrogen mobility. For a 16-person company, it is an outsized swing at a market its investors size in the hundreds of billions. Early-stage revenue is tiny and the products are still moving toward commercialization - this is a bet on chemistry compounding, not a victory lap.
Vimano keeps a low public video profile. These searches surface founder talks, pitch clips and membrane explainers as they appear.
Profile compiled from public sources including vimano.biz, Ankur Capital, Inc42, Crunchbase and Tracxn. Performance figures are company-reported and approximate; Vimano is an early-stage company and specifics may change.