At present, Zurich-based Oxyle introduced a €15.3 million funding spherical to scale its ClimateTech answer to “destroy, not simply relocate” Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) pollution from wastewater.
The seed spherical was led by 360 Capital, with participation from Axeleo Capital and returning traders Founderful and SOSV.
This builds on its €2.8 million pre-Seed spherical in 2022, elevating its whole funding to €25 million, together with further non-dilutive funding from grants and awards.
“5 years in the past, Oxyle was two of us founders and one massive concept: do away with endlessly chemical substances from our water. At present, that concept is confirmed, carried out, and able to scale. This funding is a game-changer. It offers us what we have to take our expertise to the industries and communities that want it most. To our traders, previous and new, thanks for becoming a member of us on this mission to make clear water a actuality for all,” stated Dr. Fajer Mushtaq, CEO & Co-founder, Oxyle.
When Dr Mushtaq turned on the faucet as a baby in Delhi, one query all the time loomed: was the water protected? At present, that very same query haunts communities worldwide as PFAS — poisonous ‘endlessly chemical substances’ utilized in every little thing from non-stick pans to firefighting foam — contaminate water provides at an alarming price.
A 2024 briefing by the European Environment Agency (EEA) highlights the pervasive difficulty of PFAS contamination in European waters. Monitoring knowledge from 2018 to 2022 point out that perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), a typical PFAS compound, continuously exceeds regulatory thresholds designed to guard human well being and the surroundings. Particularly, 51-60% of rivers, 11-35% of lakes, and 47-100% of transitional and coastal waters surpassed the annual common environmental high quality requirements for PFOS throughout this era. This widespread contamination poses a major problem to the EU’s objective of reaching a toxic-free surroundings and attaining good chemical standing for Europe’s water our bodies by 2027
Based in 2020 by Dr Mushtaq and Silvan Staufert, Oxyle is the “world’s first economical, sustainable, and everlasting reply to PFAS contamination“. Their PFAS catalytic destruction expertise empowers industrial and environmental remediation firms of their combat towards PFAS.
In 4 years, the duo have guided Oxyle from innovation to implementation. The corporate has grown to a crew of 26 and accomplished over 20 buyer initiatives. With revenue-generating buyer pilots beneath its belt and its first business set up operational, Oxyle is now securing multiple-year remedy contracts for 2025 and past.
Oxyle claims to not simply filter or adsorb PFAS, however to get rid of them completely to beneath detection limits. With a reported 15x decrease common vitality consumption than different harmful therapies and a 99% elimination price, it appears to be like to be essentially the most vitality environment friendly, value efficient remedy in the marketplace.
Based on Oxyle, industries have lengthy struggled with PFAS remedy. Present strategies like filtration and adsorption merely transfer PFAS from water to different waste streams, requiring costly incineration or landfilling that dangers these chemical substances leaching again into the surroundings by way of air or soil – creating an limitless cycle of contamination.
Whereas some applied sciences can destroy PFAS, their vitality necessities could make them financially impractical for organisations to implement at scale.
Oxyle’s three-stage course of combines foam fractionation, catalytic destruction, and real-time monitoring powered by machine studying – all housed in a modular system that eliminates the necessity for secondary waste disposal by way of incineration or landfilling.
Whereas alternate options require weeks-long lab evaluation, Oxyle’s proprietary monitoring system offers on the spot suggestions and steady remedy optimisation.
The expertise’s effectiveness has been confirmed throughout a number of functions. In groundwater remedy, it reportedly reduces PFAS concentrations from 8,700 ng/l to beneath 14 ng/l. For soil wash water, it achieves 99.8% elimination of 11 totally different PFAS species. It eradicated 98% of short-chain PFAS and decreased trifluoracetic acid (TFA) concentrations by 96% in trials with an industrial buyer.
Most importantly, in November 2024, Oxyle deployed its first full-scale system in Switzerland, treating 10 cubic meters of contaminated groundwater per hour at lower than 1 kWh/m³.
“We’re proud to guide the funding in Oxyle, whose pioneering expertise addresses the large international problem of PFAS air pollution,” says Thomas Nivard, Companion at 360 Capital. “Not like conventional strategies that merely include these dangerous chemical substances, Oxyle’s answer destroys them completely, setting a brand new customary for tackling this pressing environmental disaster. It is a sport changer. The crew’s distinctive business and technical momentum has laid a robust basis for establishing a real expertise chief within the coming years.”
Based on Oxyle, stricter laws in each the EU and U.S. are rising demand for superior remedy applied sciences that may guarantee compliance and minimise legal responsibility. New knowledge from the Perpetually Lobbying Venture particulars the price of inaction—cleansing up Europe’s soil and water from PFAS contamination might value €100 billion per 12 months, totalling €2 trillion over the subsequent 20 years.
Wanting forward, Oxyle goals to deal with 100 million liters of contaminated water within the subsequent 5 years. The corporate plans to broaden its answer throughout industries, from chemical and shopper items manufacturing to semiconductor manufacturing and municipal water remedy.
