Business ideas often stem from problems people face daily. This was reinforced when a youth turned the perennial issue of charging a mobile phone into a business opportunity. Jerin Jose founded E-Quark Molecule Innovations Pvt Ltd in 2021 to solve a challenge faced by mobile phone users when it comes to charging their phones while travelling on board trains, buses, and cars.
“The trains, buses, bus stations and railway stations do have charging facilities. However, they often lack a provision to place the phone. You have to balance the phone on the charger block or hold it in your hand,” Jerin explains the issue. His efforts to find a solution to the problem led to the first product of the startup — ‘Hold and Charge’, a mobile holder with a built-in charger.
The Hold and Charge unit comes equipped with a smart chip and has advanced features like auto-adaptation and high-end voltage surge protection. The charger provides an eight-layer protection system. Jerin says the company is driven by the mission to uplift human lifestyles through genuine hardware advancements.
The product has become market-ready and will be available from June end, he says.
However, the journey was not a smooth one. It took the startup founder and his team four years of research to arrive at the present product. According to Jerin, the bootstrapped company grew gradually to its present status and got a helping hand from Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), which gave them a Rs 7 lakh product development grant.
In four years, the company saw the development of three innovative products.
“As per our present plans, this year we will be concentrating on manufacturing and marketing our first product. Next year will see us working towards expansion into additional products,” he adds.
Jerin describes his first product ‘Hold and Charge’ as a dedicated, integrated provision to securely place a wide range of gadgets, including smartphones, TWS earbuds, power banks and other devices. The product comes priced at Rs 1,099 and is manufactured in New Delhi.
“We are planning to have a dedicated manufacturing unit in Delhi. Presently, we have outsourced it to a manufacturer while we deal with the design and R&D part,” he says.
“It is a rarity in a market often dominated by product marketing rather than invention. Our philosophy is we will market only what we invent. And this sets us apart,” he adds.
The company is coming up with another product called Touchboard which will revolutionise the electronic segment. “Our innovations are protected through patent procedures and hence ensure the uniqueness of our products,” Jerin concludes.