The Experiment Company’s Quest to Protect Global Health from Antimicrobial Resistance
When honey experts Sri Govindaraju and Sunil Pinnamaneni cofounded The Experiment Company in late 2019, their sights were set on elevating the profile of kānuka honey. Little did they know they would be pivoting to provide a solution for one of the biggest health and food security challenges of our time: antimicrobial resistance.
From humble beginnings testing glycoproteins in the honey, the biotech startup is now developing a platform that could transform how laboratories around the world detect and manage antibacterial resistance.
“We’ve taken a slow, manual, legacy process and we are making it efficient, scalable, and reliable,” says Govindaraju.
The company’s journey began with a niche project: building a repeatable, reproducible test for glycoproteins in kānuka honey. The work, though specialised, led to a valuable commercial service and it was during this R&D phase that the founders saw a much bigger opportunity. “We started with a very specific area in honey. Now we are actually targeting a much higher cause,” explains Pinnamaneni.
That cause is antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which the World Health Organization has described as one of the top global public health threats. The Experiment Company is developing precision hardware and software to automate bacterial resistance testing, a process that currently takes seven to ten days. Their system can cut that to just two to five days—saving laboratories up to 40% in costs and enabling a tenfold increase in throughput.
“Our solution is designed to work just as well in a high-tech urban lab as in a low-resource setting in India, Africa or South America,” says Govindaraju. “That’s what excites us—the potential to make advanced testing more widely available where it’s needed the most.”
The Experiment Company’s first commercial service was a breakthrough in kānuka honey testing. As the only lab in New Zealand offering this test, they’ve tapped into a premium export market where quality and authenticity drive global value.
Beekeepers typically test honey multiple times between harvest and retail, meaning the company has established a recurring revenue stream that demonstrates the scalability of their work.
In early 2025, the team moved from a university lab into Outset Ventures, supported by funding from Auckland Unlimited. The subsidy contributed to their rent and enabled the purchase of critical equipment.
“Moving into our own lab was a huge milestone,” says Govindaraju. “It was a barrier to entry, but the support made our decision easier and freed up funds to build the lab we needed.”
Despite being a team of just four, The Experiment Company has already been recognised as a finalist in the prototype category at Fieldays and the Parnell Innovation Awards. These accolades validate their innovation and strengthen their profile as they prepare for international expansion.
Protecting innovation has been another priority. In late 2024, the company filed a provisional patent in Australia, with a PCT application currently in progress. This positions the company for stronger international negotiations as they prepare for pilot deployments in the Middle East.
The core antibacterial resistance testing platform is already in beta, undergoing testing and validation. The next stage involves integrating consumables with the hardware—creating a complete end-to-end system that cuts turnaround times from ten days to as little as two.
Plans are underway to establish a pilot production facility and distribute early hardware units to overseas partner labs. The feedback and data collected will form the backbone of their seed funding round planned for early 2026.
While the immediate focus is food and packaging, the potential impact extends much further. By enabling rapid, low-cost testing, The Experiment Company aims to address antibiotic residues in food chains and help regulators and producers safeguard public health.
“Consumers don’t always realise how much antibiotic use comes through the food chain,” Govindaraju says. “With our low-cost hardware, we could break that barrier for countries that don’t have the same level of testing as we do in New Zealand.”
Govindaraju and Pinnamaneni are open about the hurdles they’ve faced. “Ideas are cheap. Execution, timing, and market fit are what matter,” says Govindaraju. “The key is resilience combined with discipline—learning quickly, adapting, and keeping momentum.”
Pinnamaneni reflects that they lost time in the early years by pursuing too many side projects. “If I had to start again, I’d focus on very specific goals and stick to them.”
Govindaraju also highlights financial security: “If I were to do it again, I’d keep my main job while building the hustle on the side until the business could sustain me.”
Both believe entrepreneurship can be learned. “As long as you have clarity on the problem you’re solving and alignment on purpose and goals, you can learn the rest,” she adds.
With five years of perseverance behind them, The Experiment Company is positioning itself for global impact. Their combination of commercial traction, IP protection, international validation, and a clear fundraising pathway makes them one of New Zealand’s most promising emerging biotech ventures.
“We’ve bootstrapped ourselves, and five years later, we are still bootstrapping it,” says Govindaraju. “We believe in our idea, and we’re building a solution that can make a global impact.”
Story by Katherine Blaney.
Innovation Nation is a series celebrating stories of innovation and diversity in entrepreneurship from around New Zealand.
