Angad Daryani Praan is the story of a Mumbai-born inventor who built his first robot at eight, grew up struggling to breathe in the city’s polluted winters and decided to build air purifiers that need no filters. Daryani is the founder and CEO of Praan, a deep-tech clean-air company headquartered in Mumbai and San Francisco. Praan began with outdoor and industrial purifiers, including the filterless MK II, and later launched HIVE, an indoor purifier that the company now sells for homes, offices and commercial spaces, with a stated reach of more than 1,500 locations in eight countries.
This guide to Angad Daryani Praan covers the founder’s background, how Praan began, how the technology works, the product line, the funding, the market and the lessons other founders can take from it. Every claim comes from Praan’s own pages or published coverage, and where a number is company-reported or sources differ, we say so.
Angad Daryani Praan: Who Is the Founder?
Angad Daryani is the founder and CEO of Praan, Inc. A Better India profile describes him as the 25-year-old founder of a deep-tech startup based in Mumbai, and press releases quote him as Founder & CEO. Praan’s LinkedIn page describes the company as venture-backed, building patent-pending technology for filterless capture of particulates and carbon dioxide from ambient air.
What stands out about the Angad Daryani Praan story is how early it started. He began working on air pollution while still an undergraduate and ran the project for years without outside funding, using volunteers, borrowed workshop space and prototypes built in his own room. Praan’s site frames the mission in plain terms: democratizing access to clean, healthy air.
A Child Prodigy From Mumbai
Daryani’s engineering instincts showed early. According to the Better India, he built his first robot and a solar-powered boat at age 8, a homegrown 3D printer by 13 and an e-reader for visually impaired users called the Virtual Brailler by 15. He also briefly left the conventional school system because he found rote learning unhelpful, and his parents hired a tutor who rebuilt his fundamentals.
Around age 14, he wrote to Professor Ramesh Raskar of MIT’s Media Lab, suggesting that MIT should bring on someone from India. The professor replied almost immediately, and Daryani ended up working with MIT through its India initiative for two years on health technology projects. He later returned to an International Baccalaureate school and then studied electrical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
That history matters for the Angad Daryani Praan story because it shows a pattern: he reaches out directly, builds prototypes himself and learns new fields as needed. The same habits would define how Praan was built.
The Asthma That Shaped the Mission
The mission is personal. Daryani told the Better India that he grew up in Mumbai with asthma, and that every winter, particularly during the festive season, the family would leave the city because of high pollution. Playing football was difficult because his stamina dropped and he coughed constantly.
He also described a wider sense of unease. Speaking about his generation, he said previous generations grew up with the promise of an exciting future, while his generation grew up with the reality of climate change and severe air and water pollution, a discomfort he has felt since he was about six years old. Homegrown similarly reports that he grew up battling asthma in Mumbai’s pollution and started experimenting with air purification while studying at Georgia Tech.
He added a practical point. While he could move to a country with cleaner air, he could not expect his family and friends to do the same. That logic is the heart of Angad Daryani Praan: a solution had to work for people who cannot leave.
Georgia Tech and the Paint-Bucket Prototype
In 2017, just before his sophomore year at Georgia Tech, Daryani began working on urban air pollution. The project faced structural obstacles. He told the Better India that using the university’s infrastructure would have given the institution ownership of the intellectual property, and that his visa status prevented him from registering a company with a co-founder while he was a student. So the work started in his apartment near campus.
Praan’s own story page, quoted by the Better India, says he carried the prototype two miles several times a week from his apartment to the campus makerspace. The device began as a paint-bucket prototype and evolved into a steel ducting version. Students noticed the five-foot-tall metal structure, which looked like a jet engine, and stopped to ask about it.
He also resisted an obvious path. Daryani said he did not want to build a conventional indoor purifier for the top 1% who can afford one, but something for the child walking to school or the factory worker breathing toxic air. He wanted a filterless system for large spaces so there would be no recurring cost of ownership. Angad Daryani Praan therefore began as a large-space, low-cost idea, not a premium home device.
The CNN Moment and a Volunteer Army
A couple of weeks after students started noticing the prototype, CNN reached out for its “Tomorrow’s Hero” series. CNN filmed a segment on the Georgia Tech campus, and the story went viral, according to the Better India and Praan’s own account.
That attention helped him recruit. The Better India reports that he returned to India for summer 2018, demonstrated the concept to India’s environment ministry in December 2018 and saw a volunteer team of about 30 grow to 64 people by spring 2019. The team included mechanical designers, chemical engineers, physicists, software developers and power electronics specialists, and the project got the name Praan during this period. The word means life force in Sanskrit.
His recruiting method was creative. Daryani said he offered student volunteers recognition on patents and hands-on skills, and used his MIT network to introduce them to engineers at companies like Apple, Tesla and SpaceX. He cited one volunteer who later went to SpaceX. For Angad Daryani Praan, a volunteer model was the substitute for capital in the early years.
Bootstrapping Through COVID
Funding was hard to find. According to the Better India, Praan’s work was bootstrapped, and since the team had no office, experimenting happened in public parking lots and on park benches in Atlanta during evenings and weekends. Naresh Shahani, now a director at Praan, helped obtain an unsecured loan of $15,000 in Daryani’s name, which was later doubled and returned in 2021.
By January 2020, investors had not yet grasped deep tech, and Daryani said he assembled soft commitments of about $1.35 million from an Indian VC fund and some angels, on terms he called very bad. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck and everything fell apart. He packed up and returned to India while finishing his degree online.
There was a silver lining. Many people had lost jobs or internships and wanted meaningful projects, so about 60 volunteers across time zones joined for roughly four months. Real support finally arrived from Emergent Ventures, the fellowship and grant program run by economist Tyler Cowen, which gave what the profile describes as the largest grant during the lockdown. For Angad Daryani Praan, the grant helped fund prototypes and test rigs at a moment when conventional funding had disappeared.
How the Angad Daryani Praan Filterless Technology Works
Praan’s core technology is filterless particle capture. According to the Better India, particles are pulled in by fans, charged in a very confined space, separated from the air stream and pushed by pulses into a collection bucket, while cleaner air is released back out. The profile describes the approach as a combination of electrical charge dispersion and airflow optimization.
The pitch is cost. A filter-based purifier in a very dusty space, such as a factory floor in Delhi in winter, could need a filter change every hour, Daryani told the publication. A filterless system removes that recurring cost. YourStory quoted him saying the mission is clean air for all and that the hardware has to be low cost.
The company also designs for placement. The Better India says Praan maps how pollution flows across a factory floor and places units strategically to capture it, cleaning large spaces within minutes. These are company claims about performance, and readers should look for independent test data when evaluating any purifier. The technology is the foundation of Angad Daryani Praan, and its economics are the reason the company began with industrial customers.
From MKOne to MK II
The first product was MKOne, an outdoor purifier first shown in December 2020. The Better India says it was designed for particulate concentrations up to 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter, and Daryani explained that the cylinder shape was chosen because it will not topple in high winds. Early prototypes were built in Mumbai, and he waited about five months for vendors before building the first usable prototype at a utensil manufacturing plant.
Praan’s second generation was the MK II, or Mach 2, a 6.5-foot-tall filterless industrial purifier. According to the profile, it has a purification rate of 1,300 cubic feet per minute and handles particulate levels up to 40,000 micrograms per cubic meter, with about eight times the purification capacity and five times the storage capacity of MKOne. Business Standard reported, via CB Insights, that Praan’s industrial systems have been deployed across factories including Tata Steel, Pidilite, Nestlé and Berger Paints.
The sequence shows a classic deep-tech path: prototype outdoors, harden for the harshest industrial conditions and then adapt for broader markets. Angad Daryani Praan earned credibility in factories before moving to homes.
HIVE: Taking Praan Indoors
HIVE is the company’s indoor purifier. A launch press release described it as a compact, high-volume device built from aircraft-grade aluminium and manufactured in Mumbai, using H14 medical-grade HEPA filtration to purify particulate matter and VOCs in a space of about 345 square feet. Another report said it has sensors for particulate matter, VOCs, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide and ambient sound.
On praan.io, HIVE is priced from INR 49,999, and the company claims it has 10 times less particle penetration than typical HEPA 13 purifiers, with capture tested down to 0.015 microns. It also says it demonstrated single-digit PM2.5 in capacity-suited spaces and tested the unit against pollutant levels about ten times the worst recorded in New Delhi. These are company claims.
Software is part of the pitch. The site describes an AI assistant called Edith, a Vision mode that shows PM2.5 in the air and scheduled automation, with controls for individual rooms and central management. Daryani told the Better India the HIVE software and Edith AI support ensure air stays clean and that maintenance is managed by the company. The site also says more than 90% of HIVE’s raw materials are sourced in India. For Angad Daryani Praan, HIVE is the product that brings the technology to consumers.
Customers, Users and Reach
Praan says it serves more than 1,500 locations across eight countries. Its website shows client logos including Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters, Max Estates, Marico, DS Group, Jindal Steel & Power, Essajees Atelier, Kirloskar Chillers, Epsilon Carbon, Oura, Ultrahuman, The Indian Bouldering Company, Wipro and Mahindra International School. Logo walls show use but not contract size, so they should be read as a list of customers, not revenue.
The site also lists well-known individual users, including Marico founder Harsh Mariwala and Notion co-founder Akshay Kothari, as well as quotes from the press such as Business Insider India, Hindustan Times, India Today and Livemint. These are selected by the company. The site also carries user testimonials describing health effects; we have not repeated them here, because an air purifier is not a medical device and individual experiences are not evidence of treatment.
The company earlier planned to bring its technology to 10,000 low-income students in 2024, according to a launch report. The Angad Daryani Praan customer base therefore spans industry, commercial spaces, households and, in the stated plan, schools.
Funding: About $1.9 Million Raised
Praan’s funding history is documented across several sources. On January 12, 2022, YourStory reported a $1.56 million round led by Social Impact Capital, with participation from Better Capital, Paradigm Shift Capital, Avaana Capital and Quality of Life Investments Texas, an angel syndicate. Inc42 adds Aera VC and angel investors including Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Nipun Sahni of Apollo Global Management and Ritesh Malik of Innov8, and said the startup raised around $2 million since 2021.
The Better India states that Praan had raised a total of $1.9 million from VCs and angels, and that it is supported by Microsoft, Autodesk and the Marico Innovation Foundation. LinkedIn’s company data lists the last round as a seed in August 2022. A November 2025 Business Standard report, as indexed by CB Insights, says Daryani plans to bring the average product price down from about INR 60,000 to INR 30,000 and aims to raise more capital.
For comparison with other startups raising capital, see our Funding News section. The pattern is small, mission-driven funding and a long bootstrapped phase. Whether Angad Daryani Praan raises a larger round will depend on how well it can scale HIVE and bring down costs.
Where Angad Daryani Praan Fits in Clean Air
India’s air purifier market includes global consumer brands and a number of local startups. Inc42 lists Praan’s cleantech competitors as Clairco, Urban Air Laboratory, AirPuro, AirOk, Devic Earth and Pi Green Innovations, among others, and notes a growing wave of venture interest in climate technology. Business Standard noted that demand surges each year after Diwali when Delhi’s air quality turns severe, boosting purifier sales.
Praan’s differentiators are its filterless industrial heritage, its in-house hardware and software design and its India manufacturing story. Business Standard describes it as a deeper-tech play than most consumer clean-air brands. At the same time, HIVE competes in a crowded consumer segment where price and brand matter.
In practical terms, Angad Daryani Praan competes by pairing high-performance claims with design and connected software. Buyers should still compare independent test results, filter costs and certified clean air delivery rates before choosing any purifier.
What Could Slow Angad Daryani Praan Down
Every deep-tech hardware company faces predictable hurdles. This section is analysis, not reporting.
Price. At INR 49,999 and above, HIVE sits at a premium. Bringing average prices down, as Daryani has said he plans to, is central to wider adoption.
Proof. Performance claims such as particle capture at very small sizes need to be backed by independent testing that buyers can trust.
Manufacturing scale. Hand-built prototypes are very different from reliable production, and local manufacturing requires strong supply chains.
Competition. Consumer purifier brands are numerous, and several startups are chasing the same demand spikes.
Capital. Deep tech is capital-intensive, and Business Standard noted that climate-tech venture investment remains thin. These risks are normal for a company at this stage, and Praan’s long track record of building with little money gives Angad Daryani Praan useful experience in managing them.
Leadership Style and What’s Next
Daryani leads as a technical founder with a mission-first narrative. He built the early prototypes himself, recruited volunteers with patents and learning opportunities and kept the company going during the hardest funding periods. His public statements focus on access: clean air should not depend on income or on whether someone can move abroad.
The roadmap he outlined to the Better India includes industrial, home, commercial and outdoor air purification and mapping, with AI-run software, plus direct air capture of carbon dioxide outdoors and indoors for carbon credits and permanent storage. The company’s bioengineering team is also mentioned in that plan. How Angad Daryani Praan balances this ambitious vision with a focused consumer business will define its next chapter.
Lessons From the Angad Daryani Praan Journey
The Angad Daryani Praan journey offers practical lessons for founders, especially in hardware and deep tech.
1. Build from a personal problem. A childhood in polluted Mumbai gave the mission real conviction.
2. Start with the hardest use case. Factories and outdoor spaces forced the technology to work in extreme conditions.
3. Use recognition as currency. Patent credit and skills attracted dozens of volunteers when there was no budget.
4. Reach out directly. Cold emails to MIT and to India’s environment ministry opened doors.
5. Survive the funding gap. Grants such as Emergent Ventures helped bridge the period when investors were not ready.
6. Move to consumers once the tech is proven. HIVE followed years of industrial credibility.
7. Make local manufacturing a story. Crafting in Mumbai with mostly Indian raw materials supports brand trust.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Praan? Praan was founded by Angad Daryani, who is Founder and CEO.
What is the Angad Daryani Praan story? It is the story of a Mumbai-born inventor with childhood asthma who began building filterless air purifiers at Georgia Tech in 2017, bootstrapped the company with volunteers and launched products for factories, outdoor spaces and homes.
What is Praan? Praan is a deep-tech clean-air company that builds filterless industrial purifiers and the HIVE indoor purifier. It is headquartered in Mumbai and San Francisco.
What is HIVE? HIVE is Praan’s indoor air purifier, built from aluminium and manufactured in Mumbai, with sensors and an app-based AI assistant. The site lists it from INR 49,999.
How does filterless purification work? According to the Better India, particles are pulled in by fans, electrically charged, separated and collected in a tray, while cleaner air is released back out.
What is the MK II? The MK II, or Mach 2, is Praan’s 6.5-foot filterless industrial purifier designed for very dusty spaces such as factory floors.
Has Angad Daryani Praan raised funding? Yes. Reports cite a $1.56 million round in January 2022 led by Social Impact Capital and total funding of about $1.9 million to $2 million.
Who invested in Praan? Investors named in coverage include Social Impact Capital, Better Capital, Paradigm Shift Capital, Avaana Capital, Aera VC and angels such as Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Nipun Sahni and Ritesh Malik.
Where is Praan based? The Better India describes it as Mumbai-based, while LinkedIn lists headquarters in San Francisco and Mumbai.
Is an air purifier a medical device? No. Air purifiers are not substitutes for medical care. People with respiratory conditions should speak with a doctor.
Conclusion
Angad Daryani Praan shows how a personal problem and a stubborn engineering approach can build a deep-tech company with very little money. From a paint-bucket prototype near Georgia Tech and a CNN feature to a volunteer team, an Emergent Ventures grant, the filterless MK II and the HIVE purifier, Daryani has built a clean-air company that now claims customers in more than 1,500 locations. His story is a useful case study in building hardware with patience and purpose.
The open question for Angad Daryani Praan is whether the company can bring costs down and scale production while keeping its technical edge. If it can, Praan may help turn clean air from a premium product into an everyday expectation.
For more founder journeys, read Michael Fedele’s Throne Sport Coffee, Molly Sims’ YSE Beauty and Alvaro Silberstein’s Wheel the World on Denote Press, or browse more Founder Stories.
This article is for information only and is not medical advice. Performance and customer figures are company-reported or from published coverage. Air purifiers are not medical devices.
Sources and further reading: Praan, The Better India profile, YourStory on the 2022 funding, Inc42, Homegrown, HIVE launch release, Praan on LinkedIn, CB Insights.
