Hydroleap, a Singapore-based wastewater treatment startup, has secured SG$2.6 (US$1.9) million in a new round of funding, led by Wavemaker Partners.
Seeds Capital, 500 Durians, and a few unnamed investors, also participated.
Founded by Mohammad Sherafatmand (a PhD from the National University of Singapore in Environmental Engineering), Hydroleap enables wastewater treatment to be cost-effective, environmentally-friendly and automated by replacing expensive chemical treatments with a smart electrical treatment.
It offers an automated modular system that does not need any chemicals to perform. The technology works based on electrochemical principles where low-powered electricity is applied to activate the aqueous solution and form coagulant reagents to attract contaminants.
The technology is applicable for wastewater, construction, food and beverage, oil & gas, tannery, mining and semiconductor industries.
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Currently, the startup provides solutions at construction sites. With this new round, it plans to take its technology to industrial parks, mining, palm oil and semiconductor industries by removing suspended solids, heavy metals, hardness and COD from their wastewater.
In the construction industry, runoff silty water is treated before disposal. Currently, wastewater(s) are treated by adding chemicals (coagulant and flocculants) to the water. According to Hydroleap, this process causes irreversible financial and environmental impact. Hydroleap’s solution of using electricity to treat the water is overall 3X cheaper and 2X smaller than incumbent technologies, it claims.
“Through electrochemistry research, Sherafatmand has developed and commercialised an electrocoagulation system. Competitors from the US and Europe lag in efficiency compared with Hydroleap’s inbuilt proprietary mechanism. Hydroleap’s beachhead market is in construction and enjoys a strong pipeline of projects,” said Paul Santos, Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners.
The startup has previously raised funding from SGInnovate, Sparklabs Cultiv8, Sparklabs Global Ventures and Entrepreneur First.
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