Swedish VC firm BackingMinds has invested in Helios Innovations to revolutionise industrial water purification.

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Halmstad, Sweden-based Helios Innovations, a cleantech company specialising in industrial water purification, has secured SEK 14.2M (approximately €1.28M) from Swedish venture capital firm BackingMinds.

Founded in 2016 by Sara Wimmercranz and Susanne Najafi, BackingMinds is a venture capital company that identifies blind spots in venture capital; founders and verticals that are overlooked by traditional investors.

Its portfolio includes TrusTrace, TransferGalaxy, and Cemvision.

“BackingMinds has been following Helios for several years, and we are impressed by the team, their growth and the skilful way they have found product market fit for various water solutions. Helios is tackling one of the biggest environmental problems of our time with a simple, cost-effective and scalable solution. The potential is enormous, and this is exactly the type of company we want to back,” says Lisen Oliw, Investment Partner at BackingMinds.

The funding announcement comes at a time when the Swedish firm achieved 170 per cent growth, increasing annual sales from SEK 3M to SEK 8M.

With the new investment, Helios aims to increase production, boost international expansion, and establish its solution as a new global standard for industrial water treatment.

Helios Innovations: Purifies industrially polluted water

Founded by Jonatan Persson and Johanna Gillberg, Helios Innovations develops smart water treatment systems that allow industries to purify their process water directly on-site.

Using proprietary technology, the company’s system removes heavy metals, oil sludge, and PFAS, helping companies reduce both costs and carbon emissions.

Jonatan is the inventor who, at the age of 17, built his first purification machine to combat dirty water.

The mission is to develop simple but powerful solutions to one of the world’s biggest environmental problems.

The purification takes place directly on site in a container without the need to transport huge amounts of water, resulting in significant cost and CO₂ savings.

At present, the company already purifies the most polluted water for some of the Nordic region’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers and industrial companies.

This method eliminates the need for transporting water for treatment, cutting costs and CO₂ emissions significantly.

The company’s facility in Sweden treats around 70 per cent of all firefighting foam-contaminated water in the country –  a major source of PFAS pollution.

PFAS, commonly known as “forever chemicals,” do not break down in the environment and are associated with increased health risks, being detected in groundwater and drinking water in Sweden and globally.

PFAS have been linked to cancer, hormone disruption, and impaired immune systems.

“We want to allow industry to purify its water on site while addressing one of the biggest environmental problems of our time. BackingMinds’ investment and knowledge will enable us to accelerate our journey in Sweden and Europe,” says Jonatan Persson, CEO and founder of Helios Innovations.

The company has recently established operations in Norway and is currently expanding into Denmark and the rest of Europe.

Moving forward, the Swedish company will also address liquid waste from oil and glycol, for example, from airports and large ships.