Aquaseek, the solution that aims to make water available to everyone by extracting it from the air, has received an investment of 300,000 euros, equally divided between LIFTT and Eureka! Fund. With this first round of proof-of-concept investment, the company will develop an innovative system for collecting and converting environmental moisture to make it available in liquid and potable form, at low cost and with high installation flexibility.
The objective of the investment is to arrive at an MVP (minimum viable product), that is a first release of the system, thanks also to the decisive support of the Technology Transfer Department of the Polytechnic of Turin, led today by Professor Giuliana Mattiazzo and previously by Professor Emilio Paolucci.
The entrepreneurial project was born on the initiative of the research group of the Politecnico di Torino that refers to Prof. Marco Simonetti and PhD Vincenzo Gentile. The startup Aquaseek, incubated in I3P, is part of the recovery of moisture in the atmosphere in order to use it as drinking water even in difficult areas such as arid areas, far from water distribution networks, or characterized by polluted aquifers. The spin-off originates from the Energy Department of the Politecnico di Torino, a department of excellence that collaborates with Princeton University.
The idea of extracting water from the air is not new, but this project, thanks to two exclusive patents (one held 100% by the Politecnico di Torino, the other 50% with Princeton University), makes it possible to do so with much lower energy consumption than technologies currently in use. There are several fields of application: the goal is to make Aquaseek a widespread system for all types of use, from domestic to industrial.
"Aquaseek was born from research oriented to the impact on people's lives. Our goal is to bring to the market, and therefore to the availability of all, a little-exploited source of a fundamental resource, pure water, a resource that we take for granted, but that is destined to become more and more precious and disputed" said Marco Simonetti, CEO of Aquaseek. "So we want to show that from science, from study, we draw inspiration for a high and concrete goal, for the benefit of all. We are grateful to all those whose mission is to facilitate this realization and who have helped us and are supporting us: the Politecnico di Torino, its I3P incubator, Princeton University, the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation, Venture funds, industrial partners. I am proud and honored to represent a very high-profile, passionate, multidisciplinary and international team that is constantly growing."
"The Aquaseek project has an intrinsic value that goes beyond the business perspective: our planet is increasingly facing the issue of water scarcity and having a device that can generate water in a simple and economical way fully meets the mission of visionary and Technology Transfer of LIFTT. This technology has a potential of global importance and responds effectively to the problem of climate change and one of the hot topics of the UN Agenda" said Giovanni Tesoriere, CEO of LIFTT.
"Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo acts to create the conditions for Turin to fully express its potential as a hotbed of technological innovation and to cultivate in our city a vibrant ecosystem of innovation, capable of bringing together a plurality of complementary players, including startups, investors, large companies, institutions, universities, incubators and accelerators" concluded Francesco Profumo, President of the Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo. "The support to the Aquaseek project falls within this logic, which fully reflects the values and priorities expressed in our Strategic Plan 2021-2024 both for the aspects related to Technology Transfer and for the strong adherence to the UN 2030 Agenda and the SDGs related to it."
Press review
“Aquaseek, la macchina che porta acqua nel deserto, chiude un round da 300mila euro” – Startup Italia
“Aquaseek, 300mila euro per trasformare l’aria in acqua” – Startup Business