Water contaminated with persistent and toxic pollutants is one of the world’s most pressing health and environmental concerns. Fix this global problem is Oxyle, a Zurich-based with its catalytic oxidation treatment that removes >95% of highly problematic chemicals. The cleantech startup has closed a CHF 2.8M pre-seed funding round, bringing its total capital to $7.4m since inception.
Water contaminated with persistent and toxic pollutants is one of the world’s most pressing health and environmental concerns. All over the world, water bodies are contaminated with micropollutants such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and PFAS chemicals. When untreated, these chemicals cause hormonal imbalances, cancer, and birth defects in humans and pose a serious threat to the survival of our ecosystems.
In addressing this global crisis, Oxyle, the 2020-founded startup developed a sustainable and scalable technology that destroys a wide range of micropollutants from contaminated wastewater. Oxyle’s novel treatment process is driven by their nanoporous catalysts that oxidise and eliminate micropollutants, down to detection limits of 1 ng/L, even for the highly persistent compounds that are resistant to existing treatments. This treatment process is coupled with Oxyle’s proprietary analytics technology that allows for real-time monitoring of micropollutants, a truly unique and much-needed offering that helps customers comply with their strict discharge regulations. The aim is to install remotely operated modular, decentralised reactors of varying sizes to meet customer needs from chemical industries, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and environmental remediation projects.
The core technology behind Oxyle was developed over 5 years by Oxyle’s CEO and co-founder, Dr Fajer Mushtaq, during her doctoral research at ETH Zurich that commenced in 2014. Together with Dr Silvan Staufert, the concept of a novel catalyst for micropollutant degradation was built into a scalable technology platform that is able to address the problem at the source, before they enter waterways. Oxyle has successfully completed several paid pilots with industrial and municipal customers, advanced its technology to TRL8 through on-site demonstrations, and grown to a team of 17 people. Oxyle’s team of water experts possess strong expertise in developing and implementing advanced water treatment and monitoring solutions for its customers.
The proceeds from its pre-seed funding round will allow Oxyle to bring to market its solution. Wingman Ventures led the round, supported by SOSV, Better Ventures, and another.vc. The new round brought the startup’s capital to over CHF 7 million, including non-dilutive funds and grants raised in the previous year.
(Press release/RAN)
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