Carmel sanitizing device maker 3Oe Scientific files for bankruptcy
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A five-year-old company in Carmel that makes a hand-sanitizing device has filed for bankruptcy reorganization, claiming debts of $8.1 million and assets of $188,814.
The company, 3Oe Scientific LLC, filed for Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis on Nov. 3, with updated documents filed Monday.
The business makes a hand-sanitizing device called Iggy that kills pathogens with ozone-infused water instead of soap or other chemicals. The device mounts to a wall like a water fountain but only uses about half the electricity of a hair dryer.
“It’s a huge need,” CEO and founder Dr. Thomas Foust told IBJ in 2020. “Health-care-acquired infections are a big deal, and we’re trying to reduce that.”
3Oe Scientific had six employees in 2020 when it reached an incentives agreement with the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to add 30 employees by the end of 2022. According to the IEDC’s website, the company claimed only $13 out of $600,000 in possible tax credits.
Foust first helped develop the company’s now-patented technology in 2010 while working for the research and development arm of Indianapolis-based Delta Faucet Co.
Delta decided the medical device was outside its core business and granted Foust and his team of consultants a license to independently pursue the project.
According to 30e Scientific’s website, Iggy works in seven seconds with no hand rubbing or special technique required.
“That means no measuring, no rubbing this way and that, no touching anything–just insert your hands,” the website says. “Iggy senses your hands and starts/stops automatically. Also, many products can leave hands sticky, chapped and irritated. Iggy leaves hands feeling soft.”
Foust appeared on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick in May 2021, saying the company was seeking approval at the time from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
According to documents filed in bankruptcy court, the company’s largest unsecured creditors are Astronics CSC/PDT Corp. of Lake Zurich, Illinois ($7.15 million); Christalis LLC of Henderson, Nevada ($360,000); Eurofins CRL Cosmetic of Piscataway, New Jersey ($46,10); and dlhBowles Inc. of Canton, Ohio ($46,710).
The company, which is headquartered at 424 W. Main St., won Tech Product of the Year honors from the TechPoint’s Mira Awards in 2021.