Gush is a Singapore-based startup growing paint that cleans the air because it coats partitions
The common particular person spends 90% of their life indoors—however the air inside properties and workplaces could be as much as 5 instances extra polluted than outdoors.
That invisible downside turned the start line for Singapore paint producers Gush, an organization that believes the partitions themselves can assist repair it.
Based in 2017, gush produces sustainable paints that may purify the air, eradicate micro organism, regulate humidity, and even stop mould. Better of all, they’re utterly odourless.
The enterprise’s merchandise appear to have struck a chord. Eight years on, gush has grown from a two-person founding workforce into an organization with companions and initiatives throughout the area and past.
We caught up with co-founder Lester Leong to learn how the corporate scaled from a small Singapore startup right into a rising regional model.
An concept born from private frustrations
In our previous interview with the founding team, Lester shared that gush was born from private frustrations. He first began the model along with Ryan Lim, whom he met whereas engaged on an entrepreneurial mission on the Nationwide College of Singapore. (Ryan has since left the corporate in 2021.)
The duo have been delicate to air air pollution—Ryan had childhood bronchial asthma, and Lester suffered from sinusitis. After Singapore skilled a extreme haze episode in 2015, they sought an alternative choice to cumbersome, high-energy air purifiers with expensive filters.
The thought of utilizing paint to purify the air got here to us, and it appeared like a logical resolution as we are able to them allow the largest floor space in a room—the partitions and ceiling—to work as a passive air air purifier.
They spent three years growing a paint components whereas nonetheless in class, consulting professors, testing prototypes, and refining it via suggestions from family and friends.
How gush works is straightforward. On the coronary heart of its paint is a proprietary catalyst that actively breaks down indoor air pollution—the invisible chemical substances launched from furnishings, cleansing brokers, and on a regular basis supplies—into innocent substances like water vapour.
Not like conventional paints or purifiers that merely take in pollution, gush’s proprietary components neutralises air pollution at a molecular degree, constantly working even at nighttime. Over time, the paint has developed to supply “higher protection, sturdiness, anti-mould properties,” and has even been shipped to resorts within the Maldives and Bali.
Over 6K initiatives delivered
From the start, gush has taken a direct-to-consumer strategy. Lester defined in a recent YouTube podcast that promoting via retail shops would drive them to surrender important margins.
As an alternative, they’ve began with e-commerce, which stays central to their technique, permitting them to go value financial savings on to prospects.
Whereas catering direct to prospects was their playbook at first, gush’s enterprise at present has moved to being largely enterprise-focused. Now, they’ve expanded to serving personal industrial and industrial asset enhancement works, and large-scale refurbishment initiatives.
We selected this [B2B] focus as a result of we’ve got since additionally developed a full suite of enterprise merchandise which have distinctive product benefits (one-coat exterior techniques as a substitute of the everyday three, heat-reduction, anti-mould and algae) that translate instantly into lifecycle financial savings at scale—fewer coats, much less downtime, higher indoor environmental high quality, and decrease upkeep for asset house owners.
Lester Leong
During the last 5 years, gush has delivered over 6,000 initiatives throughout residential, public, and industrial areas. Notable initiatives embody Individuals’s Park Advanced—although Lester joked that “the color selection could also be polarising”—Thomson Medical Centre, and greater than 100 multi-storey carpark repaints slated for completion over the subsequent two years.
Based on Lester, the model continues to see constant development, almost doubling its prime line nearly yearly.
Rising past Singapore’s borders
For the reason that early 2020s, gush begun laying the groundwork for increasing past Singapore’s borders via “channel companions and technical trials,” leveraging funds from its pre-Sequence A rounds.
In 2019, gush raised S$3 million, adopted by close to S$4.7 million in a second pre-Sequence A spherical—first led by mainboard-listed property group Metropolis Developments Restricted (CDL) after which by enterprise capital agency TNB Aura.
Competing with established gamers within the coatings area was robust, however the investments, particularly from CDL, added credibility, serving to gush acquire belief with enterprise prospects and accelerating its enlargement.
“Essentially, we’ve got engineered our merchandise to go above and past the calls for of tropical markets to resolve typical tropical issues of warmth and humidity whereas additionally tackling excessive labour prices and indoor air air pollution,” mentioned Lester.
Whereas the model’s core market continues to be squarely in Singapore, they’ve a presence in Hong Kong, in addition to the Gulf Cooperation Council, which is a regional bloc of six Center Japanese nations: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman.
However regional enlargement has surfaced hurdles: customs and duties that have an effect on landed value, various applicator talent ranges, and the necessity to preserve constant color assurance throughout climates.
“We’ve addressed this via tighter associate enablement, clearer technique statements, and pilot-led entries that construct case research earlier than scaling,” mentioned Lester.
gush had additionally explored the US market, however tariffs and commerce boundaries made it less viable. Lester defined that till the corporate can set up a neighborhood provide chain or manufacturing presence, they won’t be able to pursue the US market additional.
Gaining market share & increasing to extra markets
At the moment, gush stays steadfast in its focus. “We’re staying near our core: high-performance coatings for the largest surfaces round us,” mentioned Lester.
Following its pre-Sequence A funding rounds, the corporate secured an undisclosed quantity in Sequence A funding in the course of the first quarter of 2023. Lester shared that the funding has been deployed into product improvement, manufacturing scale-up, and enterprise go-to-market initiatives—particularly in Singapore, the place “repainting cycles are predictable and data-rich.”
“We now have additionally invested in operational tooling, from color assurance to associate onboarding and a commerce portal to professionalise the contractor expertise,” he added.
Transferring ahead, the corporate is concentrated on rising market share in Singapore’s MCST and HDB repainting cycles, measured by repeat wins and specification inclusion. The workforce can be pursuing selective regional scale, prioritising markets with robust product–market match, whereas deepening its class vary.
Whereas take-up has been “encouraging” to date, challenges stay.
Convincing companions to maneuver previous legacy specs and navigating regulatory approvals proceed to check the workforce’s persistence—however gush is counting on pilot initiatives, knowledge, and whole cost-of-ownership fashions to show to prospects why their options are superior for total mission outcomes.
Gush has come a good distance since its early days. After we spoke to the founders again in 2020, they described the acquainted grind of startup life—lengthy nights, tight budgets, and numerous rounds of testing simply to be taken significantly.
Their first weeks concerned having to acquire a number of check experiences and certifications to even be capable of converse with big-name prospects, who didn’t settle for a prototype and demanded heaps of documentation. They relied closely on competitions and authorities grants for funding and needed to work inside a decent finances.
The founders additionally didn’t draw a wage for the primary half of the yr and have been dipping into their financial savings as a substitute. However that grit has paid off, with the corporate establishing itself as a regional participant within the coatings and high-performance paint trade.
“Our job,” Lester summed up, “is to make surfaces not simply stunning, however purposeful. By combining anti-mould, air-purifying interiors with heat-reflective exteriors, we are able to raise indoor environmental high quality, cut back cooling masses, and minimize repainting time and waste.
Over time, as cities densify, these incremental good points at each repaint cycle add up—property by property, faculty by faculty. That’s the longer term we’re constructing towards.
- Discover out extra about gush here.
- Learn different articles we’ve written on Singaporean startups here.
Featured Picture Credit score: Gush
