Singapore-based chemical separation technology startup Seppure secured US$2.5 million in a seed funding round led by US-based deep tech investor SOSV.
It was also joined by prominent investors including Silicon Valley accelerator 500 Startups, Singapore Government-owned SGInnovate, Entrepreneur First, Belmond Capital, and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Chairman on the Board of Trustees Koh Boon Hwee.
Founded just last year, Seppure develops sustainable nano-filters that are able to separate chemical mixtures using minimal energy.
However, the startup’s co-founder Mohammad Farahani had started working on this core technology since he received a grant to research membrane technology under a PhD programme at the National University of Singapore (NUS) four years ago.
The aim is to eliminate the use of heat, which is usually needed in evaporation and distillation methods for chemical separation and purification. Right now, this accounts for 15% of the world’s energy consumption.
It’s work that will mostly go unseen, but Seppure’s technology will quietly be cutting out “100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions” and saving “US$3.6 trillion spent in energy annually”, according to their website.
Their nanofiltration has applications in multiple global industries such as food, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, oil and gas.
Seppure will use its funding to scale up the production of chemical-resistant nano-filters, and start industrial-scale pilots with potential customers.
Featured Image Credit: DealStreetAsia / Seppure