Oxyle receives 3.2 million Swiss francs

Oxyle has raised 3.2 million francs in non-dilutive funding in its first year of existence through various grant programs and competitions. The funds are being used to advance Oxyle’s catalytic oxidation technology for efficient and sustainable wastewater treatment.

Some of the investment comes from the European Commission’s Horizon2020 EIC accelerator program, the Eurostars program. Oxyle has also won several competitive awards, including the 2020 Grand Prize of the Venture competition and the 2021 SEIF award for Social Innovation sponsored by UBS. Oxyle has also been awarded financial support from the BRIDGE proof-of-concept program of the Swiss National Science Foundation and the European Council, the Gebert Rüf Stiftung’s Innobooster grant, Venture Kick and the Swiss Innovation Promotion Agency, Innosuisse.

Based at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), the startup has developed several novel nanoporous catalysts, which destroy over 95 percent of a wide variety of toxic micropollutants from wastewater effluents, as was reported in a press release. In contrast to existing technologies, Oxyle’s “green approach is highly efficient, cost competitive, uses clean energy sources, imposes a low carbon footprint, and meets stringent discharge regulations”.

The startup aims to provide modular, decentralized reactors of varying sizes to meet the treatment needs of its customer segments including chemical industries, pharmaceutical, biotech, and food and beverage companies, hospitals and research laboratories. Several paid pilots with customers have already been installed. “We are determined to build on this momentum and accelerate our market-entry,” said CEO and co-founder Dr Fajer Mushtaq.