from the crossroads of America in the hoer state of Indiana this is get in the podcast focused on the unfolding stories and extraordinary Innovations happening in the Heartland today I'm Nate spangle and I will be your host for today's conversation today we have a live recording from rally the largest global cross sector Innovation conference that was held right here in Indiana on the show today is Tomas sakaro co-founder and CEO of [Music] biotactics Tomas sakaro is the co-founder and CEO of biotactics a company is working to replace all traditional prochemical solvents with a green based alternative please enjoy this live episode of get in from
rally my name is thas silico I'm the CEO and co-founder of biotactics We Are A green chemical company from Argentina and we are developing the new generation of green solvents fely natural and biodegradable okay so dive into that a little bit and explain that for the non-science people in the room this guy solvents are used everywhere we eat them we breathe them we absorb them every day even we don't want to the problem is that they are mainly petrochemicals and they damage the environment and they make us sick so we need to change that we need to change the industry for good as well they
have a lot of CO2 emissions contamination and so on with our company we developed what is called natural Depot tectic technology that is the the technology that allow us to have the type of products that we have that are fing natural and biodegradable solvents that can replace all the existing ones and that can even replace some ingredients that are chicals as well oh my gosh so what's your background then my background is business I've been working for the last 22 years developing uh companies and and businesses through all Latin America North America Europe and Asia but I have four amazing Founders that are the brains
behind all these and the experts behind all and they're like the science the science side of things yes they are four of them are PhD in chemistry specialized in green chemistry and Maria Fernanda that is here with me she's one of the two most important scientist in the world in this field and she was named by Stanford University as one of the 2% most influential scientists in the world holy cat she should be here not honestly that's the I dropped the ball on that one with my schedule so can you talk to me a little bit like what stage are you guys at in your
business we are just turning from Pilot plant scale to Industrial scale with the idea to start selling in the first semester of 2024 okay what is that mvp product look like and where would it like finally touch the end consumer like me okay we are four verticals food personal care and cosmetics agrotech and gas capturing and we will be selling the producers of the foods or the personal care items that you use you will see it on the label of those products we will make them Greener and safer nice okay so you're from Argentina you said yeah I'm from Argentina so how did you find
out about rally we were reached out by them by email and we studed a little bit about the the event that it was a very new one and the competition and as well the prices that are involved and because we are planning to move to the US in the next 6 months or so uh this was a really nice opportunity for us to know a new city and take advantage of the opportunities that we're having here as well so you before Rally or or anything they reached out to you were already planning on moving to the US yes so what has been the attracting factors
of of potentially coming to Indiana then oh that's a really good question we've been all around honestly in the US but what we saw is that in Indiana we have a lot of of synergies with Purdue University in Notre Dame and all the ACT Tech and foottech activity that is going on here and for us those are the main two verticals that we are focusing now the first ones that we will be able to start uh developing products we already have 27 products ready but the ones that we will be able to solve and that's why we thought that it would be a very good
opportunity to be here before you heard about rally where were you kind of like where were your front runner cities uh we were in New York we were accelerated by IND New York so we spent their four or five months we were in Miami as well for Latins Miami is always a good spot to be so we we made some research there we've been in Oklahoma we have a a VC there that it's very interested on on us moving there as well and elsewhere as well with San Francisco San Diego and some others is this your first time in Indianapolis yes okay so you touch
down playing lands what was your first impression of Indiana it was like it's really quite it was like it was really smooth we in Argentina Liv in chaos every day crisis every day we like the us and our first Market is going to be the us but once we started talking with people what we found out is that the community here it's it's awesome the startup community and honestly the people is really great everyone is open to help and and to give you a contact or reach out or whatever for us that's what's most important being uh foreigners or Latins moving to the US to
have a network where to display those contacts as well yeah and I think you're talking about Connections and just the collaborations I think they call them creative collisions happening at rally besides the pitch competition what have been some of the most beneficial parts of rally for you and your business honestly we are trying to touch base with a lot of companies that are doing things here and try to understand how they are managing as well know how the Indiana state is managing the startup Landing or soft Landing here in Indiana it's very good for us as well and all the benefits that they are giving
and as well know how the pur University and Notre Dame interact with startups because for us we are a science-based company and we need to be in touch with all the the universities and all the science labs that Indiana has or any state has yeah how how big is your team currently today we are 12 people we are five co-founders four scientists and myself I'm the business guy and we have an our seven scientists in the lab but the team is really growing a lot we have an R&D lab in in Argentina in mendosa and we have an application slav on pilot plant in New
York in indivo but we are going to add eight more people to the team in the next couple of months amazing we are growing fast I love that so here's just a couple rapid fire quick questions as we wrap up okay what ways do you plan on maximizing the momentum built at this conference in the weeks to come that's a tough one honestly what we want to take advantage of is really getting in the the startup Network being part of it it's it's almost like the name of this podcast is called get in well I didn't realize that okay capital I capital n period for
get Indiana but same thing yeah but that's what we want we want to be part of the startup Network here and really if we want or not be part of it because we know that we have a lot of synergies to to be done so I think that momentum of being here and taking advantage of all these highlights that we are making here it's very good for us I love it what's been the coolest part of your trip to Indianapolis so far oh I always love pitching so that's one and the other one was the the event that we have on Monday it was really
nice and cool was that the high Al rooftop very nice place very ni oh my gosh I can say that was very good have you ventured to St Elmo yet uh no we we haven't oh it might need to be on your list the shrimp cocktail there fantastic it's uh do then it's uh definitely a bucketless stop when you come to Indianapolis first off good luck in the pitch competition right I'm excited we're uh we're really pumped up to hear the winners tomorrow but regardless if uh listeners are looking to connect with you all or support you all or get plugged in how can they
do that they can connect us through our LinkedIn page in btics if not my name tomasik they can search for me as well in LinkedIn and we can connect the thing that we like the most is not just to build our business but to help others so we are part of the this network for that as well amazing thank you so much and best of luck in the pitch competition are you ready to transform your brand with award-winning video content that captures your vision and connects with your audience check out Alchemy the experts at building your brand using video from story-driven social media Snippets that
leave a lasting impression to compelling fulllength documentaries they have got the expertise to take your brand to the next level Alchemy is actually our video partner here on get in they do amazing work all the videos you see across social across YouTube all that is done by Alchemy and they're an amazing partner to work with reach out to me Nate at powderkeg or check out Alchemy film.com to get connected with Alden and his team they will take care of all your video needs this has been get in a powder kick production in partnership with Elevate Ventures and we want to hear from you if you
have suggestions for a guest or segment reach out to Matt or Nate on LinkedIn or on email to discover top tier tech companies outside of Silicon Valley in hubs like Indiana check out our newsletter at powder.com newsletter and to apply for membership to the powdercake executive Community Check out powdercake / premium we'll catch you next time and next week as we continue to help the world get in since you just listen to this podcast you might be thinking about starting one for your company lucky for you our partners over at casted have you covered cassid is the first and only podcast in video marketing platform
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