Khanjan Desai (BASc ’13) and Chong Shen (BASc ’13) are co-founders of Alchemy, a company that fabricates leading-edge coatings using nanotechnology for the automotive and defense industries. Chong and Desai, nanotechnology engineering (NE) alumni, launched the start-up in 2013.
Alchemy recently received $1.8 million in funding from the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) to scale up the manufacturing of their automotive products.
University of Waterloo’s entrepreneurial ecosystem played a pivotal role in the development of Alchemy, providing initial funding through the Velocity incubator as well as additional grants from the University.
“To launch Alchemy, we needed lab space, access to advisors and infrastructure that would have been so expensive to have on day one of our start-up. The University of Waterloo provided all of that for us, we would not exist without Waterloo,” says Desai.
Since then, Alchemy has experienced rapid growth driven by its ExoShield windshield protection film, which features abrasion‑resistant nanoceramic coatings and custom manufacturing processes. This innovation delivers durable, easy‑to‑install protection and resolves long‑standing trade‑offs that have challenged the industry. The company now manufactures in Kitchener‑Waterloo and exports to 56 countries, supported by a network of over 500 installers.
Alchemy is utilizing Crypsis, a nanoparticle based thermal signature management platform to help protect our troops in the Canadian Armed Forces.
Khanjan Desai working on a windshield at Alchemy
Desai’s training in NE became foundational to his career as CEO of Alchemy, a deep understanding of nanotechnology is critical for working with their engineering team on research and development and in translating his technical knowledge to influence business strategy and outcomes.
Desai reflects on his journey in the NE program at the University of Waterloo. One of the main reasons that Desai decided to pursue an engineering degree at the University of Waterloo was the co-op program.
“To be able to graduate with two years’ worth of work experience was important. Through my co-op experiences, I learned how to conduct myself in a workplace, how to think about the marketing side of a business, how to write grants proposals, how to present to people working in roles above mine. You do not really develop those skills if you just do four years of schooling,” says Desai.
For Desai, the best part of the NE program was the friends he made along the way.
“My classmates are now all over the world, but whenever I get a text from any of them, it's like we haven't skipped a beat. Part of my undergraduate experience also transfers over to the world of being a founder. It is not easy to start a company and going through a rigorous program like nanotechnology engineering, you build resilience, which has helped me stay the course as a business owner.”