Oxyle

PFAS (or "forever chemicals") and their ubiquitous contamination of water supply have emerged as one of the most important environmental challenges of the 21st century. These compounds are extremely persistent, resist natural degradation, and continuously accumulate in soil, water, and now even human bodies. As public concern and regulatory requirements increase, so too has the need to develop scalable and sustainable PFAS removal approaches. At the forefront of this new cleantech frontier is Oxyle, a Swiss startup founded in 2020 by both Dr. Fajer Mushtaq and Dr. Silvan Staufert - both former students of ETH Zurich. The company has a mission to provide an energy efficient, permanent solution to PFAS removal from contaminated water and is moving incredibly quickly and inventively towards that goal.

Oxyle has developed a uniquely proprietary, modular platform that not only captures PFAS, but destroys them entirely on a molecular basis. Existing systems absorb PFAS onto substrates or incinerate them. All these approaches typically end up with secondary waste. In contrast, the firm’s technology destroys over 99% of PFAS by advanced catalytic oxidation. It all comes together with three products that make one system: OxFoam that concentrates PFAS; OxLight, a photochemical reactor that compounds industry chemicals; and OxSignal, a real-time monitoring unit that checks off all regulation compliance and transparency. The overall result is a complete, effective, sustainable and energy-efficient process to destroy PFAS. Oxyle uses about 15 times less energy than existing systems of destroying PFAS.

Oxyle has achieved remarkable progress, going from a two-person team to a 26-employee company and more than 20 paid customer projects. In November 2024, the company publicly commissioned its first full-scale commercial PFAS treatment system in Switzerland. The system treats a maximum of 10 cubic meters of groundwater every hour while consuming less than 1 kWh of energy/ cubic meter—which is a target showing both scalability and cost-effectiveness. Oxyle is also expanding beyond its home base; the company is creating an expanding presence in Europe, and professing interest in North America and Asia where regulatory action for PFAS is accelerating.

In terms of finance history, Oxyle has cumulatively raised $26 million. The firm raised $3 million in a pre-seed round, which took place in 2022 with Wingman Ventures leading the round and SOSV, Better Ventures, and Founderful participating as well. The firm closed a $16 million seed investment round in January 2025 with 360 Capital leading it with Axeleo Capital and other returning investors. Oxyle is deploying the proceeds from these funds to strategically scale their production capacity, ramp-up their R&D activities, and commercialize Oxyle's products around the world. The firm began generating revenue from its pilot projects in 2024, and expects to end 2025 with over $10 million in commercial revenue mostly from hardware sales and multi-year service contracts. The company is not yet profitable but is in an early revenue stage and has a strong financial base to scale rapidly.

Oxyle has a hybrid pricing model for its upstream hardware sales along with recurring revenue for maintenance, catalyst replacement, and real-time monitoring services. Customers may purchase the firm’s modular treatment units along with a subscription to an analytics platform to be able to monitor performance and compliance for as long as required. Additionally, it provides customized service contracts for industrial and municipal clients, even offering pay-per-cubic-meter water treatment options. The added flexibility of pricing not only gives clients access to treatment and compliance with lower barriers of entry, but it provides them recurring revenue which allows scalability and predictability in how the company generates its revenue.

Although Oxyle is a relatively young company, it is already positioned as an emerging leader in the PFAS remediation space. It has competitors in the space internationally. For example , Aclarity has a business based on electrochemical oxidation, Allonnia engages in bio-remediation techniques, and BioLargo is known for their electrostatic PFAS capture technology. By contrast their competitive advantage is its ability to destroy PFAS entirely, consuming less energy, with modular treatment designs that apply to a variety of industries. Larger environmental services firms such as Montrose Environmental Group are also entering the space and they have varieties of their own PFAS-related solutions. A disadvantage of those larger firms is that they are usually reliant on third party technologies to ultimately resolve the PFAS contamination issue, with the firm’s proprietary system, if a company is looking for systems of an integrated solution, Oxyle can provide a much more streamlined accessibility.

Oxyle has yet to become profitable but the long term prospects are very promising. The PFAS remediation market is expected to boom, and the company’s advanced technology, strong support from investors, and growing pool of clients position the company nicely to be a part of that transition. CEO Fajer Mushtaq has reiterated that the firm is not merely selling a product, but rather, delivering real a mission of restoring trust in the water supply and to build a PFAS-free future. With approximately $26 million in funding, a developing footprint, and the ultimate aim of treating and cleaning up 100 million cubic meters of contaminated water in the next 5 years Oxyle is one of the most promising cleantech start-ups on the planet.

Simultaneously, the company is commercializing the technology and partnerships are emerging, including a strong partnership with global water treatment company Waterleau and its working from pilot projects to a substantial operational footprint. Given its disruptive technology, commercial progress, and market and mission-driven leadership—Oxyle isn't just responding to a global crisis, they're shaping the next environment technology frontier. Oxyle is on its way to being a category defining company for clean water treatment technology with its unique and poignant integration of science, engineering, and sustainability.

Click here to access Oxyle's website.