Whereas the epidemic wreaked on the global economy, 2020 became a watershed moment for Israeli innovation. Sonovia, a modest textile beginning situated in Ramat Gan, owes its existence to the terrible virus.
“When we first started, there were just six of us,” firm founder Shay Hershcovich said as he stood at the door to the company’s small premises. On the lowest floor, a tiny packing and distribution area sends hundreds of thousands of the company’s unique SonoMask and SonoMask Pro surgical masks all around globe. Sonovia’s exclusive technology is perfected in a small lab on the top floor.
In the last year, the company has sold over a million protective masks to over 300,000 customers.
Sonovia plans to go public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in December 2020, and its iconic made-in-Israel mask will be just the last in a line of ecological, antibacterial apparels.
SONOVIA WAS FOUNDED IN 2013 by Shuki Hershcovich, who obtained the rights to its innovative sono-based technology that integrated nanoparticles with specified qualities onto fabrics from researchers at Bar-Ilan University. The firm had been painstakingly improving its so-called “sono machines” in order to market them on a large process. However, as the coronavirus began to spread from China, its members wanted to assist.
Shuki Hershcovich contacted his colleagues in China in December 2019 and told them that he suspected his antibacterial fabric could assist limit the spreading of the unusual virus. If that’s the case, he’ll transfer some of the spools of pro fabric he created in a German R&D centre to Helping build masks, surgical apparel, and safety gear for frontline staff.
“The very first trials of Sonovia’s fabric’s efficiency against the coronavirus were done in a Shanghai army lab,” CTO Liat Goldhammer-Steinberg remembered. “They have been the only persons with access to the virus for research.” Everyone was immediately concentrated using the virus to find a vaccines, and you couldn’t use it in any corporate lab.”
The Chinese lab’s findings demonstrated that the SonoMask was effective, neutralising the new coronavirus with 99.34 percent efficacy. As a result, in March 2020, the company imported the remainder of its stored fabric from its R&D line to Ramat Gan, and then drove it to an Acre plant where 120,000 masks were created and donated to Israeli hospitals.
These shields will not only play a significant role in replenishing critical protection supplies when supplies were running low everywhere, but they would also fundamentally revolutionise and redefine the meaning of masks, shifting them from inactive screening obstacles to aggressive protection gear.
The organization was resolved to put its innovative technology to use for the benefit of the State of Israel.
“As a result of genetic variations in crucial sections of the receptor binding domain, COVID-19 variants may have distinct epidemiological or immunological features,” Adler added. “However, the virus’s general structure and biophysical properties are nearly comparable.” As a result, the antiviral impact of Sonovia-treated fabrics is likely to be present in all COVID-19 variations.”
Sonovia’s technique use vibrations to inject silver and zinc particles into textiles, which destroy viruses and bacteria.
“At the end of the day,” said Sonovia’s creative director Jordan Fox, “we want to give our customers the assurance that they are wearing masks that work.”
Despite SonoMask’s success, along with a recent nearly 30% increase in stock value after a leading Italian textile-testing laboratory demonstrated that its fabric eliminates COVID-19 Delta variant particles with over 99.95% efficiency, Sonovia does not intend to be known solely as “the mask makers.”
The pandemic increased Sonovia’s income stream, which piqued the curiosity of several major Israeli donors, according to project coordinator Iuri Verba. The company has raised NIS 50 million and wants to expand into the garment, automotive, locomotives, hospitality, and healthcare industries with their fabric.
Sonovia’s innovation may be used for more than just anti-pathogen materials; it can also be used for UV protection, water repellency, fire retardancy, and colouring, as required by its customers.
According to Goldhammer-Steinberg, the company’s proprietary method is completely automated and can be readily implemented into current manufacturing lines in a short amount of time.
