ST. GEORGE — Steribin, the St. George-based developer of the first ultraviolet light disinfectant device for airport security trays, has announced its merger with Vioguard, a leading provider of hospital-grade UV disinfection solutions, with the resulting entity operating in Southern Utah.
The combined company will be privately held and will operate under the name UV360, said Jon Cole, the CEO of Steribin. Cole will be assuming the same role with the new company.
The merger, which took place last week, was officially announced in a news release sent via email on Tuesday.
“Prior to 2020, the UV disinfection market saw years of steady growth, but the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the urgent need for effective disinfection solutions in every sector,” Cole said in the release. “With a combined 16 years between Steribin and Vioguard, UV360 has the experience necessary to push the boundaries of UV innovation while continuing our tradition of exceptional customer service.”
As previously reported in St. George News, Steribin started in 2018 as an incubator startup at the Atwood Innovation Plaza in St. George to address the problem of contaminated airport security bins.
As the company has awaited approvals from the federal Transportation Security Administration, Cole said it has been extending its efforts to develop solutions for food processing, laboratories and other applications. He told St. George News on Wednesday that while the TSA has been good to work with, obtaining the necessary approvals has been “a long, slow process.”
While the company was waiting on the agency, Cole said Steribin decided to turn its attention to other potential customers and applications outside the government.
“We branched out and started developing a bunch of products in other industries, one being the food industry,” he said. “We’ve worked with large food processing facilities, and we’ve done testing with them. We’ve been able to find that we can significantly reduce or eliminate bacteria in food packaging before it gets packaged to consumers. That’s a significant thing to be able to enhance food safety and food quality.”
Meanwhile, Vioguard, which has operated since 2008 and is based in Bothell, Washington, specializes in developing UV equipment used to sanitize equipment in hospitals and other medical facilities.
Health care associated infections commonly spread in such environments, Cole said.
“A nurse or doctor can visit a patient and then pass germs from one patient’s room to the next from their hands, phones or equipment,” Cole said. “Then, you can get sick from somebody in another room, even if you’ve had no contact with them.”
Cole said Vioguard has ramped up its disinfection applications since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, to include not just workstation keyboards but many other devices such as tablets, touchscreens, cell phones, walkie-talkies and key cards.
According to the news release, Vioguard’s products are “uniquely focused on killing pathogens and eliminating cross-contamination to provide clients around the world safer and healthier experiences.”
According to a 2020 report by Allied Market Research, the global UV disinfection equipment market, which was valued at $1.3 billion in 2019, is projected to reach $5.7 billion by 2027.
“So if somebody comes to us to say, ‘These are our disinfection challenges,’ well, here’s what we can do, without chemicals,” Cole said. “We do it quickly and effectively.”
He added that their long-term strategy is to continue to growing their products, brands and business in all aspects of the market. He said that Steribin is unique in that they started long before the pandemic but that their whole focus is on UV disinfection.
“That’s all we do,” he said. “It’s not just some side project for us. I think our customers see it as a strong point that we’re not just jumping on a bandwagon. We’re offering something that we’ve really developed some expertise in.”
The Steribin and Vioguard companies will combine their business operations through the first half of 2022.
Meanwhile, Imagen Capital Partners, the majority stockholder of Vioguard, will remain on the board of directors of UV360. Cole said UV360’s new board will comprise people from the boards and teams from both Steribin and Vioguard.
He said the companies currently have employees in both Utah and Washington, in addition to some who have been working remotely in other states.
“As we relocate the operations to Southern Utah, obviously, we’ll be hiring here as well,” he said. “I expect we’ll be hiring a good amount of staff over the next several months, which is very positive for our business as well as the local community.”
For more information on UV360, visit the company’s website. To watch a one-minute introductory video about UV360, click here.
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