On Wednesday, Delft-based Hypersoniq, an electrochemical sensor technology company, announced that it has secured €1.1M in seed funding round.
The funding consortium includes Impact Investor VP Capital and the Thematic Technology Transfer funds of Smart Industries and Netherlands Enabling Water Technology (NEW).
Fund utilisation
The company will use the funding to advance the development and commercialisation of its electrochemical water quality sensors, designed to tackle industrial wastewater challenges with real-time monitoring.
The latest funding comes three months after UNIIQ, an investment fund focused on the proof-of-concept phase, announced its €2.5M in various companies, including Hypersoniq.
Joris van Aken, CEO of Hypersonic, says, “Real-time online insights into water quality have never been more important, especially in the Netherlands, where we have the worst water quality in the EU. With the support from this funding round, we can accelerate our research and product development to bring our groundbreaking sensors to market.”
What does Hypersoniq solve?
European industries are facing growing challenges with wastewater and process water quality. They often rely on slow and inefficient manual sampling.
Current online sensor technologies have limitations and fail to provide actionable insights for a significant portion of the industrial market. As a result, offline (manual) sampling methods remain the norm, despite results sometimes taking days.
This delay leads to inefficient and inadequate processes, costing industries millions of euros annually and limiting their ability to meet environmental standards.
Hypersoniq: Improving a wastewater treatment plant
Led by Joris van Aken, Hypersoniq‘s patented technology uses advanced electrochemical methods, new materials, and machine learning to provide fast, actionable insights in real-time.
These insights enable rapid feedback loops that optimise processes, reduce environmental impact, lower costs, and ensure compliance with environmental regulations.
The company’s primary commercial focus is on monitoring industrial wastewater, with its first customer pilot planned for early 2025.
This pilot project seeks to improve a wastewater treatment plant by monitoring water pollution levels in real-time.
This will help reduce the use of treatment chemicals and enhance control over the process, leading to lower costs, a smaller carbon footprint, and better compliance with regulations.
Hypersoniq’s sensors also provide valuable benefits in other areas, including monitoring processed water in the food and beverage industry and early-warning systems for drinking water safety.
Co-Founder & CTO Gijs Vermeij, says, “Translating these electrochemical sensing technologies from the lab to practical applications requires expertise across various disciplines, including materials science, electrochemistry, water technology, and AI. This funding allows us to expand our team and take major steps toward commercialising our technology.”
The investor
VP Capital, the investment firm of the van Puijenbroek family, focuses on sustainable progress with over 150 years in the textile industry. Their team of 13 professionals invests in biodiversity, climate change, and social equality.
Mathijs van der Knaap, VP Capital, says, “Hypersoniq stands out with its innovative and sustainable approach to addressing global water quality challenges. Their solutions deliver measurable results that improve water standards. We are proud to support their mission and contribute to improving water quality worldwide”
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