ChakraTech is scaling up a process that uses bacteria to produce sustainable plastics and simultaneously scrub greenhouse gases from the atmosphere
ChakraTech, a startup company incubated through the Wavemaker Lab at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, won the top prize for advanced startups in the university-wide Triton Sustainability Challenge, garnering $13,000 in funding. The prize was awarded based on the company’s entrepreneurial merits and its positive environmental impact.
The challenge culminated in a final face-off on April 22 at the Scripps Seaside Forum, during which finalists pitched their companies’ proposals to local business and industry leaders, along with members of the university community.
“The Wavemaker Lab has been absolutely essential to our success, connecting us with the resources, expertise, and business development support that transformed our innovation into a viable solution.”
Ravi Chawla
“The judges asked insightful questions that let us really showcase the merit of our technology,” said Ravi Chawla, the founder of ChakraTech. “Just knowing our message resonated with both the expert panel and the broader audience felt like validation beyond the award itself.”
The company is focused on scaling up a biochemical process in which bacteria consume greenhouse gases as their “food” and produce biodegradable plastic as a byproduct, which breaks down naturally without leaving harmful microplastics behind. The technology has the potential to be a two-in-one solution to the problems of plastic pollution and climate change.
Chawla entered the Wavemaker Lab — a startup incubator housed within GPS’s Cowhey Center on Global Transformation — in 2023. While he came in with a business idea and a scientific background, he hadn’t formally established a company, nor did he have the resources to initiate research and development or to perform market research.
At the lab, Chawla and other startup entrepreneurs received guidance from industry leaders and GPS faculty members, all of whom have different sector focuses and areas of expertise.
[Read: Wavemaker Lab opens applications for new cohort of startup founders]
“The Wavemaker Lab has been absolutely essential to our success, connecting us with the resources, expertise, and business development support that transformed our innovation into a viable solution,” Chawla said. “All that coaching on simplifying our message for different audiences really paid off that day.”
Elizabeth Lyons, the Wavemaker Lab’s director and an associate professor at GPS, sees the win as a strong proof of concept for the role that the lab plays in the university and local communities.
“ChakraTech’s win is a testament to how important it is to have programming that supports deep technology and ambitious entrepreneurs,” she said. “It’s inspiring to witness how Ravi has used his brilliance and determination to leverage UC San Diego’s powerful entrepreneurship ecosystem and build a company that will improve life for all of us.”
