R-Zero, startup automating disinfecting born during pandemic raises $41.5 million

R-Zero?s UV-C light disinfection system, Arc, in seen a bathroom in San Francisco, U.S. May 2021. R-ZERO/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - San Francisco-based R-Zero, a startup formed during the pandemic to make ultraviolet disinfecting machines for commercial and institutional customers, said on Wednesday it raised $41.5 million to help automate its process and make it more efficient.

While hospitals have been using UV-C lights for decades to disinfect operating rooms, the technology was not widely adopted because the machinery was expensive, said Ben Boyer, a co-founder of R-Zero.