Rice alumna launches startup to tackle food waste with edible produce coating
A Rice University doctoral alumna has turned her research into a startup developing an edible coating that could significantly extend the shelf life of fresh produce and help tackle global food waste.
Neethu Pottackal is the founder of NIVERA, a company developing a natural coating designed to keep fruits and vegetables fresh for longer. The technology, developed through her doctoral research at Rice, has shown the potential to nearly triple the shelf life of certain produce, according to company testing.
The coating is made from naturally derived ingredients, including proteins and fibers, and is designed to slow the biological processes that cause fresh produce to deteriorate after harvesting.
Fruits and vegetables continue to lose moisture, exchange gases and become vulnerable to bacteria and fungi after they are picked. NIVERA’s coating creates a protective barrier to address three key causes of spoilage: moisture loss, oxidation and microbial growth.
Some of the ingredients are sourced from agricultural by-products, offering a potential way to reduce production costs while making use of existing waste materials.
“Anybody who’s bought a box of strawberries or an avocado can relate to it going bad before they can even eat it,” Pottackal said. “But it’s more than just an inconvenience. It points to a massive problem of food waste as well as access to fresh food.”
The company is initially focusing on high-value produce, including avocados and berries, where extending shelf life could deliver significant economic benefits. Early testing with avocados has already demonstrated substantial improvements in shelf life.
Pottackal developed the technology during her doctoral studies at Rice, working with co-advisers Pulickel Ajayan, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor of Engineering, and Daniel Preston, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering.
Ajayan’s materials science expertise helped guide the formulation of the coating, while Preston’s laboratory contributed knowledge of spray-coating applications and the engineering needed to translate laboratory research into practical technologies.
“Working at the intersection of materials science and mechanical engineering, we’re able to approach this problem from different perspectives,” Pottackal said. “We’re looking at not only the materials but how they interact with each other.”
The technology aims to address food losses across the supply chain, from harvesting and packaging to transportation and supermarket storage.
More than a billion metric tons of food are wasted globally each year, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, with significant losses occurring before food reaches consumers.
“We’re targeting keeping fruits and vegetables fresher for longer so that they can last all the way from harvest to packaging, transit and supermarket shelves before the consumer can finally purchase and consume them,” Preston said.
Pottackal’s interest in food science was influenced by her experiences navigating severe food allergies and growing up across different countries and cultures. Her research at Rice provided an opportunity to combine those interests with her scientific training.
As the project progressed, she began exploring its commercial potential, supported by Rice’s entrepreneurship programmes. She participated in the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Innovation Fellows programme and the Rice Venture Scholars initiative.
She also secured a $25,000 prize at the Napier Rice Launch Challenge and reached the semifinals of the Rice Business Plan Competition, winning Overall Best Elevator Pitch and the $25,000 Energy, Cleantech & Sustainability Prize.
“Rice has played a big role in shaping me, not just as a researcher but also as a startup founder,” Pottackal said.
NIVERA has since secured further support to advance the technology. Pottackal was selected for the 2026 Activate Fellowship, which provides more than $300,000 in funding to help scientists and engineers commercialise promising technologies.
The company also received a $305,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research award from the National Science Foundation, with Preston’s laboratory participating as a subawardee.
The funding will support the next stage of development as NIVERA works to scale its technology and demonstrate its performance beyond laboratory conditions.
For Preston, the startup highlights the potential of connecting university research with commercial opportunities.
“The innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem here at Rice is booming right now,” he said. “There are massive opportunities for students to translate their impactful research in the lab to real-world use and implementation.”
Pottackal said she hopes to expand the company and bring more engineers and scientists into its work as it moves towards wider application.
“I’m really proud of how far we’ve come, and a founder’s journey is not always linear,” she said. “There’ve been many instrumental community mentors, sources of support and opportunities that have helped us grow and transform, both from the research side as well as the business side, and I’m excited to keep growing this company and bringing in more engineers and scientists to work on our mission of improving sustainability and reducing waste at the food-water-energy nexus.”
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