Sofi Filtration, a women-led Espoo-based CleanTech firm growing ultrasound-based water filtration know-how, has raised a €900k funding from EIT RawMaterials to speed up industrial pilots, worldwide growth, and continued improvement and validation of the know-how.
The funding consists of €600k underneath the EIT RawMaterials ‘ERMA Booster’ programme and €300k underneath its ‘Quick Observe’ programme. EIT RawMaterials supplies further startup help providers, together with entrepreneurship teaching, monetary and administration advisory providers.
“We’re grateful for the dedication of EIT RawMaterials, whose backing permits us to take large leaps in commercialisation,” says Riina Salmimies, CEO, Sofi Filtration. “With this help, we’re strengthening our workforce, constructing partnerships, and getting ready to increase into new markets – from Europe to Türkiye, and shortly to North America.”
In 2025, different European CleanTech and critical-raw-materials startups have additionally attracted exterior capital – as an illustration, Resilico raised €5 million to remodel industrial waste into secondary uncooked supplies for building. UP Catalyst secured €18 million to scale up its course of for producing battery-grade graphite and carbon nanotubes from CO₂ emissions.
On this panorama, Sofi Filtration’s €900K injection – whereas numerically smaller – is strategically important: it helps industrial pilots, worldwide growth from Europe to Türkiye and doubtlessly North America, and continued improvement and validation of its ultrasound-based filtration know-how tailor-made to mining side-streams.
In contrast with bigger friends corresponding to Resilico and UP Catalyst, Sofi’s elevate underscores a extra focused, proof-of-concept and market-entry stage reasonably than a broad-scale rollout.
Taken collectively, the publicly disclosed 2025 funding on this phase – roughly €30 million together with Sofi’s spherical – indicators a average however actual movement of funding into European ventures targeted on useful resource effectivity, waste valorisation, and demanding raw-materials resilience.
As a Finnish firm, Sofi Filtration stands out inside this cohort, addressing circular-economy challenges from a Nordic perspective.
Bernd Schäfer, CEO, Managing Director, EIT RawMaterials, provides: “Europe can not afford to waste what it must win. As an innovation affect investor, EIT RawMaterials backs know-how pioneers like Sofi Filtration. Sofi’s know-how turns wastewater into important mineral provide – accelerating circularity, lowering water use, and strengthening Europe’s safety of provide for important uncooked supplies.”
Based in 2011, Sofi Filtration is a water know-how firm offering ultra-fine particle filtration for mineral restoration and cleansing industrial course of waters – serving to industries maximise useful resource effectivity, minimise waste, and contribute to a extra sustainable future.
Their present providing is constructed on the success of Sofi Prima, their advantageous particle filtration resolution.
Their new enterprise line is Sofi Alchemist. It leverages the confirmed know-how platform of Sofi Prima to get well important minerals from the aspect streams of mining focus crops.
Sofi Alchemist filter system is reportedly the primary on the planet to mix ultrasound-powered self-cleaning with the power to seize ultra-fine particles right down to 0.3 μm. The know-how allows as much as 20% greater restoration of important minerals from current mines, supporting extra sustainable useful resource use.
“That is how we speed up European management – by investing in scalable options that transfer from pilot to affect. We’re delighted to help the Sofi workforce’s development and to proceed delivering on our mandate to safe the important uncooked supplies Europe wants for competitiveness,” says Schäfer.
Confirmed in water remedy for over a decade in energy crops, building, and the pulp and paper trade, the know-how is now being utilized for the primary time in mining, creating a brand new pathway to enhance useful resource effectivity and cut back environmental affect in mining and processing industries.
A significant milestone in Sofi Filtration’s scaling journey is the latest supply of its system to Finnish battery chemical compounds producer Terrafame. The deployment enhances nickel sulphate manufacturing on the Sotkamo plant and demonstrates the know-how’s worth in strengthening Europe’s battery supplies worth chain.
The EIT RawMaterials funding builds on Sofi Filtration’s €1 million financing spherical accomplished earlier this yr.
Because the demand for important uncooked supplies surges to drive the inexperienced transition, Sofi Alchemist is able to play a pivotal position in securing sustainable mineral provides for the long run.
