Molendotech secures significant investment to push forward development of water testing technology

The University spinout company was incorporated in 2017 to commercialise the research of Professor Simon Jackson
MolEndoTech's BacterisK is a rapid pathogen test kit designed to deliver real-time data for the widest range of users
Molendotech, an award-winning University of Plymouth spinout company, has secured an investment of more than £1.2million to push forward the development of its pioneering water testing technology.
The new funding will enable the company to create an operational unit based in the Health and Wellbeing Innovation Centre, managed by the University in Truro through its Cornwall Innovation programme.
This will be in addition to its existing base at the University’s Brixham Laboratory, with the aim of having one centre focused on research and product development and the other on the validation of its technologies.
As part of an oversubscribed funding round, the company secured £500,000 from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund, £500,000 from Exeter-based venture capital firm QantX, and a further £230,000 from existing private investors and the management team.
The new investment will support the company on the commercialisation and development of its product Bacterisk+, an easy-to-use, portable and rapid test to monitor and detect pathogens found in water.
It is something that has potentially never been more critical, in light of recent headlines about coastal and river pollution, meaning Bacterisk+ has the potential to address a major public health and environmental concern.
Within that, most water testing methods take more than 48 hours to assess the safety for use making the current decision-making tools not very useful as water quality can change rapidly.
The 25-minute test invented and developed by Molendotech is being used by water utilities, regulators and other interest groups to minimise the exposure of the population to bacteria and track sources of pollution.
Molendotech was founded by Professor Simon Jackson at the University of Plymouth, in 2018.
Its customer base includes environmental agencies, water companies, and national and local government authorities, and its methods and assays are protected by patents in several countries including the US, UK, Australia and Japan.

Being able to detect pathogens quickly and accurately is vital when working to keep communities safe from harm. Our testing solutions can be used quickly and by anyone who has had basic training, meaning rapid action can be taken to address a poor quality environment or danger. While our products can be used anywhere in the world, we are extremely proud to be a South West company and we will use part of these funds to employ more local staff over the coming years as our business grows.

Simon JacksonSimon Jackson
Chief Scientific Officer at Molendotech

Water quality is paramount for the safety of the population and the environment more widely. Our clients are using our tests to take near real-time decisions, increasing the safety of communities and protecting their brand equity. We are working with different clients both in the UK and abroad and seeing a large appetite for our solutions.

Rui Andres, Chief Executive Officer at Molendotech
 
Credit: Fieldwork Robotics

An impressive track record of commercial success

In the third edition of the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF), published in September 2023, the University of Plymouth was listed among the highest ranked universities in the UK for its work to commercialise its intellectual property into spinout companies now tackling many of the key global challenges of our time. Operating in fields as diverse as energy generation, agricultural technology, vaccine and antibiotic development, and maritime cyber security, these companies now have a combined annual turnover of more than £15million.