Tycho Speaker, a second-generation Slovak immigrant, is the innovator behind STAYTEC™. Like many children in immigrant families, he grew up speaking different languages – except his were chemistry, pharmacy, and toxicology, rather than Slovak.

While on a family camping trip with his young daughters, mosquitoes were a huge problem and Dr. Speaker became concerned with how much of the repellent was soaking into his children while it was protecting them. When they returned home, he set about using his background to develop an encapsulated repellent that could keep the repellent on top of the skin where it belonged. With improvised equipment and a lot of creativity (and mosquitoes bites), he succeeded in demonstrating that this approach could make a repellent that reduced skin absorption and worked better than anything on the market. This foundation became the first of many patents and the basis for the advanced STAYTEC™ technology of today.

Later he met LivFul founder Hogan Bassey. The combination of their two visions and programs helped bring STAYTEC™ technology to life along with safe, effective, protection from insects to everyone.