We are excited to announce that we have welcomed Micellotech into KPM-Accelerate’s Pathways Program! We are supporting Micellotech as they bring their SmartFilter technology from the lab to market in hopes of recycling the valuable materials from oily wastewater. With direct support in technical scale-up, financial modelling, and funding support services, Micellotech is now looking to the next step along their commercialization journey. KPM-Accelerate is thrilled to continue to back Micellotech as they move towards validation and design work, with an expected fundraising round near the start of Q2, 2022.
About Micellotech
Micellotech was founded in January 2021 with the mission to make industrial wastewater contamination a problem of the past. At roughly 80%, the majority of the world’s wastewater goes untreated. This causes significant downstream problems, including damaging our drinking water and harming marine ecosystems. Using their patented SmartFilter technology, Micellotech is poised to revolutionize the way we treat oily wastewater and make an impact on issues such as industrial wastewater and oil spills. Their patented SmartFilter structure can separate highly stable oil-in-water (and water-in-oil) emulsions without the use of external energy or harmful additives which are typically required. Micellotech has accomplished this while achieving a yield of 95% pure oil in the first iteration of their SmartFilter. The “smart” in SmartFilter is in reference to the filter’s selectivity and use-case flexibility, with Micellotech having identified versions of the core SmartFilter technology which can be customized to meet specific industry needs. With applications in metal manufacturing, oil remediation, food processing and more, Micellotech is working to commercialize their safe, affordable, and efficient technology to help tackle oily wastewater in any setting and on any level, so that we can all enjoy a future with cleaner water.
Micellotech is a start-up founded by Queen’s University Ph.D. candidate in Chemistry, Morgan Lehtinen. As the founder and CEO of Micellotech, Lehtinen has pursued her desire to use her scientific and research-focused background to create meaningful, real-world change. Lehtinen is an alumnus of NEXT Canada’s Next 36 program, a highly competitive founder development program. Micellotech was chosen as one of the highlighted companies for Next 36’s Venture Reveal Day in May 2021, as well as one of the 10 Canadian Ventures to Watch as part of NEXT Canada’s Grit Magazine. In addition, Lehtinen is backed by Mitacs as part of their Invention to Innovation (i2I) skills training program. This program is specifically aimed at helping researchers, scientists, and engineers—typically graduate students—to expand their entrepreneurial capabilities. Micellotech has also been recognized by Hello Tomorrow as one of the world’s most promising deep-tech startups, being selected as a Hello Tomorrow Deep Tech Pioneer this September.
Micellotech is the product of Lehtinen combining her excitement for creating with the importance of sustainability. Her work with Guojun Liu, Professor of Polymer and Materials Science at Queen’s University on the technology’s potential has led her to dedicate more time to fully developing and commercializing their work. KPM-Accelerate is excited to help Micellotech see the vision for their technology be realized.
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