How Lite-1 Is Redefining Sustainability: Interview with Startups of The Year 2024 Nominee

Hey Hackers,

Lite-1 has been nominated in HackerNoon's annual Startups of The Year awards in Vancouver, Canada.

Please vote for us here:

Voting page for Vancouver

Read more about us below to understand why we deserve your vote.

Meet Lite-1

Lite-1 is revolutionizing the colour industry by growing vibrant, sustainable pigments using microbes. Our biotech-powered approach transforms an outdated, wasteful process into one that’s clean, circular, and scalable—eliminating toxic dyes and water pollution from the equation. We’re not just creating colour; we’re designing the future of materials, where beauty meets sustainability without compromise.

How Lite-1 Achieved Product-market Fit

Lite-1 has achieved product-market fit because we solve a critical pain point for industries that rely on colour—fashion, packaging, home décor, cosmetics, food and beyond. Traditional dyes are toxic, water-intensive, and increasingly unsustainable in a world demanding cleaner, greener solutions. Our microbial pigments not only meet these demands but integrate seamlessly into existing manufacturing processes as a drop-in solution.

The response from brands and consumers alike has been overwhelming—people are eager for innovation that doesn’t sacrifice quality or aesthetics. Lite-1 doesn’t just fit the market; we’re helping redefine it.

• Industry Demand: Conversations with leading brands across fashion, packaging, and interior design have consistently confirmed the urgent need for sustainable colour solutions. Many are actively seeking alternatives to toxic dyes and water-intensive processes.

• Seamless Integration: Lite-1’s pigments function as a drop-in solution, requiring no significant changes to existing workflows. This eliminates barriers to adoption, as proven by early pilot partnerships where brands integrated our pigments effortlessly.

• Market Validation: Feedback from pilot projects and consumer-facing prototypes has shown that sustainability doesn’t have to compromise beauty or performance. In fact, our partners have highlighted how Lite-1’s story resonates with their customers’ values, driving engagement and brand loyalty.

The Evolution of Lite-1

Building Lite-1 has been an evolution rooted in curiosity, creativity, and a shared mission to make sustainability effortless and beautiful. Our journey began long before we officially founded the company, shaped by years of expertise in science, design, and innovation.

Roya Aghighi, our CEO and co-founder, blends a unique background in design and science. She’s collaborated with brands like lululemon and partnered with institutions like UBC and TU Delft, bridging the gap between visionary concepts and practical applications. Her work has always centred on creating future-forward solutions that marry aesthetics with environmental responsibility.

Sarah, our co-founder, brings a rich understanding of materials and fashion, honed through her Master’s in Material Futures from Central Saint Martins. Her experience in the fashion world showed her the urgent need for alternatives to the industry’s wasteful, pollutive practices. She’s always been driven by the belief that the materials we use today will shape the planet we live on tomorrow.

Together, we set out to tackle one of the most overlooked yet impactful aspects of sustainability: colour. Through countless iterations—experimenting with microbes, optimizing bioreactor processes, and perfecting pigment application—we’ve built a solution that feels simple but is anything but. Each step reinforced our belief that innovation doesn’t happen in isolation; it’s the result of a multidisciplinary approach, driven by purpose and perseverance.

Lite-1 is the culmination of years of dreaming, experimenting, and refining—proof that with the right mix of science, art, and tenacity, we can colour a more sustainable future.

No major pivots. Only iterations and realizations along the way. We’re seeing ways we can improve our processes.

Use feedback has been helpful. From the start and what we’ve heard from partners, we knew that starting with brown and black pigments would be the most impactful.

Brown and Black colour pigments are among the most harmful, most widely used, and the hardest to produce sustainably. So, starting here was important.

Milestones and Achievements

We’ve successfully graduated from numerous incubators, been featured in the press multiple times and are on our way to closing our pre-seed investment round.

Lessons Learned

Lite-1’s biggest challenges have revolved around the intersection of innovation and adoption—creating something entirely new while navigating the inertia of established industries. Here are the key challenges we’ve faced and the lessons they taught us:

Breaking Through Industry Norms

Challenge: The colour industry has relied on the same toxic processes for decades. Convincing stakeholders to embrace something unfamiliar often met with hesitation, especially when it meant rethinking entrenched systems.

Lesson: We learned the power of positioning. By framing Lite-1 as a drop-in solution that doesn’t disrupt existing workflows, we eliminated a major barrier to entry. Change needs to feel seamless for adoption to take hold.

Scaling Biotech Production

Challenge: Transitioning from lab-scale experiments to commercial-scale production required solving complex technical and operational hurdles, from optimizing microbial growth to ensuring pigment consistency.

Lesson: Iteration is key. Each step taught us to embrace small wins and take a systems-thinking approach. It’s not just about growing microbes; it’s about designing processes that are scalable, efficient, and aligned with sustainability goals.

Educating the Market

Challenge: Many people don’t realize how damaging conventional dyes are—or how sustainable solutions like Lite-1 can transform the status quo. Bridging that knowledge gap has been essential but challenging.

Lesson: Storytelling matters. We’ve learned to communicate not just the science but the bigger vision: why Lite-1 exists and how it benefits industries, consumers, and the planet. People don’t just buy products; they buy into stories that inspire them.

Balancing Purpose and Profit

Challenge: Staying true to our mission while meeting the financial demands of a startup required careful navigation. The tension between impact and scalability has been real.

Lesson: We realized they’re not mutually exclusive. By partnering with like-minded brands and investors who value purpose alongside profit, we’ve created a path that’s both sustainable and economically viable.

Each challenge strengthened our resolve and refined our approach. Lite-1 isn’t just building a company; we’re charting new territory, and every obstacle has been a chance to grow, adapt, and push the boundaries of what’s possible.

What Startups of The Year means to us

We’re participating in HackerNoon’s Startups of the Year because Lite-1 is about more than just creating sustainable colour—it’s about sparking a global conversation around innovation, purpose, and the power of science to solve pressing challenges. HackerNoon provides a platform that reaches the curious, the forward-thinking, and the builders of tomorrow—the exact community we want to engage with.

By being part of this initiative, we hope to:

Build Awareness: Lite-1 is pioneering a new way of thinking about colour and sustainability. HackerNoon gives us the opportunity to share our story with a global audience that values cutting-edge ideas.

Inspire Collaboration: We’re always looking to connect with like-minded innovators, brands, and investors who share our vision of making sustainability effortless. HackerNoon’s network is fertile ground for fostering these partnerships.

Champion Change: We believe that recognition amplifies impact. Being named among the Startups of the Year would not just validate our mission but also inspire others to join us in rethinking what’s possible in biotech and sustainable design.

Lite-1 is here to disrupt the old and champion the new. Participating in this initiative is a step towards scaling our voice and our vision.

Conclusion

At Lite-1, we’re not just imagining a better future—we’re building it, one vibrant, sustainable pigment at a time. Our journey is proof that science, creativity, and purpose can come together to redefine entire industries and inspire real change.

We’re excited to be part of a global movement that values innovation with impact. As we grow, our mission remains clear: to create solutions that are as beautiful as they are sustainable, proving that doing good can look—and feel—extraordinary.

Thank you for the opportunity to share our story. Let’s colour the future, together.