When Priya and Samit Choksi designed and launched the inverted umbrella (popularly known in Hindi as the Ulta Chaata ) in 2015 through their start-up ThinkPhi, they saw it as an infrastructure product that would serve as a smart parking space and double up as a harvester of both rainwater and the sun’s rays.

At the time they had no idea that in the years to come their inverted tensile canopy would be able to perform another half a dozen tasks for its clients, and travel many more miles on the product roadmap.

Today, the modular shading canopy structure, christened Halo, also serves as a mobile and laptop charge station, an e-bike charge station, an internet hotspot with 3G Wi-Fi and a clean air pathway for pedestrians. Why, it has even metamorphosed into a ‘meet and greet’ area outside the departure terminal of GMR’s international airport in Hyderabad.

The public area at the airport, visited by 25 million travellers annually, serves as a space where people can wait and get connected through ThinkPhi’s solar-powered canopies that provide hotspots and charging stations for their devices.

Besides, the Halo W, as it is called, generates 7, 010 units of electricity and harvests 5,18,400 litres of water across the product’s lifetime.

Priya recalls how they had to work on a tight deadline as the inauguration of the terminal was nearing and it took them a flat two weeks to set it all up, with the canopies installed in just two days.

ThinkPhi has created some innovative spots using their product range in India and Singapore. At the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani campus, the canopies cover 50 spaces with modular parking systems of various configurations across the faculty housing area. This was part of the upgradation done along with architect Hafeez Contractor. The project’s sustainability impact across the lifetime of the product will be 49,060 units of electricity, 28,00,000 litres of water and 34 tonnes of CO2.

In Jaipur, as part of the Smart City project, ThinkPhi has worked with Tata Projects to erect canopies for the Dravyavati River Development Project where 12,270 units of electricity will be harnessed and 7,28,000 litres of water collected during the lifetime of the product.

Breaking even newer ground is the company’s Halo Walk concept. Here the multi-purpose canopies cover walking pathways and are equipped with humidifiers to convey clean air to pedestrians as they cross these long spaces. “For instance, if the walk from the metro station to the public transport area needs to be negotiated on a hot, pollution-laden summer day, people have the advantage of walking under a clean air cover,” explains Priya.

So, armed with its new Halo product variations — Halo Park, Halo X, Halo Walk and Halo Connect — ThinkPhi continues to operate out of the box as it grows from a start-up into a company.

Generating value

Samit outlines the growth trajectory: “We are now 24 people in India and headquartered in Singapore. We have four granted global patents and 12+ certifications on products. Our partner network has over 10 strong distributors with big names like Cushman & Wakefield in Singapore. We have several Singapore government entity customers which are installing our product as part of their ‘liveable cities’ mission.”

While ThinkPhi’s early products were more hardware-focussed, the company is now concentrating on generating value through better data capture and analytics around their spaces.

“Our vision is to transform spaces across the larger smart and sustainable cities,” says Samit Choksi.

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