Analyze this: Handheld devices do just that
Company's tools identify chemicals
At first glance, the laboratories of Ahura Scientific Inc. in Wilmington appear similar to others found in manufacturing operations. Nothing fancy, just a hodgepodge of equipment.
But, in fact, the labs are devoted to fine-tuning unusual, small handheld devices, combining optics and electronics, that are aimed at detecting substances that may turn out to be either mundane or deadly.
With these devices, the five-year-old privately held company is making possible a type of analysis that had been conducted in labs for years, noted Ahura chief executive R. Douglas Kahn in an interview last week. "We're making devices that are useful for the people using them, wherever that might be," he said.
That could be in the workplace, in the home, in government buildings, on city streets, or on battlefields -- anywhere mysterious substances are discovered, he said. Users of the device include the military, law enforcement agencies, and hazardous materials response teams.
The initial product, the FirstDefender XL system, was introduced in June 2005; the second, called the TruScan system, was rolled out in January of this year, said Kahn and Daryoosh Vakhshoori, Ahura president and one its founders.
For the design and capabilities of these products, Ahura received an innovation award last month from the Smaller Business Association of New England, a trade group headquartered in Waltham.
But Ahura is not focused only on the marketing of these two products, said Kahn, 53, and Vakhshoori, 44.
Research is underway, for example, for similar units that could be used for blood analysis and for diagnosing various diseases, Vakhshoori said, adding that the National Institutes of Health has earmarked $2 million in grants for this research.
Applications of Ahura's handheld devices "are limitless," suggested Nina Saberi, founder and partner of Waltham-based Castile Ventures, which has put up about $10 million of the $29.5 million that has been invested in the Wilmington company. Other venture firms involved are Comventures of Palo Alto, Calif., and ARCH Venture Partners, based in Chicago.
"The performance by Ahura's entrepreneurial team has been very impressive, and it's exciting to think about all the other product possibilities," Saberi said.
In addition to Vakhshoori, who lives in Cambridge, other company founders are Masud Azimi, 45, of Belmont, vice president for packaging; Kevin Knopp, 34, of Newburyport, vice president for systems engineering; and Peidong Wang, 43, of Carlisle, vice president for fabrication.
The original business plan called for Ahura to be involved in telecommunications applications, said Vakhshoori, who previously started a telecom firm. But after a year, the plan was changed to safety and security devices. "We then brought in the appropriate technical talent," he said.
From 10 employees at the outset, the company has grown to 72, 60 of whom work in Wilmington.
Last year, revenues were between $10 million and $20 million, or three times those in 2005, said Kahn, a Boston resident. "And we expect similar growth this year."
Sales of the FirstDefender device have been fueling the company's growth, he said. So far, some 500 units have been sold to 150 customers, most of them in the United States. They include the Army, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Customs and Immigration, and the Capitol Police in Washington, Kahn said. A prominent foreign customer is the Ministry of Defense in Japan, he added.
The average sales price of these units, depending on the model selected, is between $25,000 and $50,000, said Kahn, who joined Ahura two years ago after having been chief executive of
Here's how the FirstDefender product works, according to Kahn and Vakhshoori: A small vial of a liquid or a powdered substance may be placed in the unit, or the unit may be pointed at a substance.
"A laser is used to get a signature of molecules -- like a fingerprint -- and that is compared to other chemicals," Vakhshoori explained. Kahn added: "We have a library of 4,000 different substances to which a specimen can be compared."
While customers are leery of publicly revealing incidents, Kahn cited the case of a Suffolk County, N.Y., middle school, where a bag of white powder was discovered. Using the Ahura device, a hazardous materials team determined that chlorine was the ingredient.
FirstDefender was used during the Katrina cleanup in New Orleans, and has been used in Iraq, Kahn said. Also, discussions are continuing with the Transportation Security Administration about a pilot project at US airports, he noted.
The TruScan product, unveiled this year, is being targeted to large pharmaceutical companies, Kahn said, adding that there already have been a half-dozen sales. The price range is the same as for FirstDefender.
"The primary application of this product is to validate incoming raw materials for a production cycle. The device can also be used to distinguish a legitimate drug from a counterfeit one," Kahn said.
