SouthWestSensor Ltd announces Series A investment from SKion Water

Investment and strategic partnership to drive the development and commercialisation of a wet chemical sensor platform for continuous monitoring of pollutants and nutrients in water to help customers make smarter water and waste water management decisions

SOUTHAMPTON, England and BAD HOMBURG, Germany, Nov.1, 2021– SouthWestSensor Ltd (‘SWS’), a UK based developer of a disruptive sensor platform aimed at bringing the lab to the water for improved data driven decision making, has secured Series A funding from SKion Water, a global water technology company and solution provider. 

Investment and partnership

SWS will use the investment to drive the development and commercialisation of its wet chemical water sensor platform to help customers make smarter water and wastewater monitoring decisions. The company’s vision is to become a key enabler for the digitisation of the water industry, to help protect this precious resource and improve sustainability.

Partnership synergies will be explored through working on integrated product and service offerings with other SKion Water portfolio companies, as well as leveraging the SKion Water brand for sales of SWS’s own sensor products.

Platform extension

SWS is a late research stage company that has already launched and generated sales with its first product, a sensor probe for continuous monitoring of nitrite and nitrate levels in water. The Series A investment now supports an extension of the DropletSens™ platform to cover additional measurement capabilities and formats, including modules for dry installation sensor cabinets.

The initial target segment for the sensor probe is environmental monitoring of surface water to monitor long-term changes or in case of catchment areas, act as an early warning system to flag up discharge events.

Effluent monitoring for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment will be a primary target for the drybox sensor format. Here continuous monitoring enables early warning of increased discharge levels, triggering early remedial action to avoid potential discharge penalties.

Ultimately, the autonomously generated near real-time, high-frequency, lab-quality sensor data should become a key enabler for closed loop process control and digitisation of a wide range of water treatment processes, aimed at optimised chemicals dosing and energy savings.

Shared vision and primed for growth

‘We are absolutely delighted to welcome SKion Water on board, a highly respected investor with a shared vision of the pivotal role that advanced sensing solutions will play in improved water management and digitisation of this key industry. Apart from the investment itself and SKion’s top-notch domain experience, we are already seeing the benefits of working with SKion’s portfolio companies, having just completed a 3-months sensor deployment with one of them. This provides a strong basis for further growth and integrated product and service offerings to reach our ambitious short and mid-term commercial goals. I would like to thank SWS founder, Dr. Xize Niu, our excellent team and previous Seed Round investors.’ Dr Oliver Hofmann, CEO.

‘We see a lot of potential in the platform sensor technology developed by SouthWestSensor and are looking forward to supporting the excellent team in the next steps entering the market. Due to the wide range of applications, we see many opportunities for collaboration in our portfolio which should help SouthWestSensor to overcome a few of the hurdles young technology companies face in the water sector.’ Dr. Dirk Brusis, Managing Director at SKion Water.

About SouthWestSensor

SouthWestSensor Ltd (SWS) is a UK based technology company that has developed a microfluidics based platform technology for continuous monitoring of pollutants and nutrients in water. Using  established wet chemistry methods, SWS’s DropletSens™ technology offers lab quality data at the point-of-need, helping customers make smarter water and wastewater management decisions. For more information, please visit https://www.southwestsensor.co.uk

About SKion Water

SKion Water GmbH – through its operational subsidiaries Ovivo, EnviroWater, ELIQUO, Paques, Ecopreneur, ADASA and Matten – is a technology and solution provider, as well as a plant manufacturer, in both municipal and industrial water and wastewater technology. SKion Water also invests in innovative water technology companies if the respective technology is a fit with the existing portfolio. SKion Water is a subsidiary of SKion GmbH, the investment company of German entrepreneur Mrs. Susanne Klatten. For more information, please visit https://www.skionwater.com

Related Links

southwestsensor.co.uk/