Frontier IP has received a 20% stake in Molendotech, a new spinout of Plymouth University that has developed a way to test the purity of water.

Plymouth University has spun out Molendotech, which will commercialise a test to screen water for faecal contamination, with commercialisation firm Frontier IP acquiring a 20% stake. The university is one of Frontier IP’s eight partner institutions to which it provides advisory services in exchange for equity in resulting spinouts. The firm is active in the UK and in Portugal, where it has partnered Universidade Nova de Lisboa and Universidade de Évora. Molendotech, incorporated towards the end of last month, will commercialise the research of Simon Jackosn, professor of environment and human health at the Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry. Jackson has developed a rapid assay test that can screen water for faecal contamination at the point of use in under 15 minutes, as opposed to currently available tests that can take anywhere from a few hours to several days to produce results. The spinout has filed a patent for the technology, which has been granted in the US for recreational waters. Simon Jackson, director of Molendotech, said: “This is a great opportunity to take Molendotech’s technology to market. Frontier IP has an excellent track record of commercialising technology and we will be working closely with them to commercialise our innovation.” Neil Crabb, chief executive of Frontier IP Group, said: “We are looking forward to working with professor Jackson and his team to help accelerate the commercialisation for this promising technology.  “We believe that Molendotech has an exciting future in the critical area of water quality assurance and are pleased to see the technology is already generating interest in the marketplace.”

Subscribe to go deeper

GCV subscribers get access to all our proprietary data and deep-dive articles, as well as the global directory of CVC investors.



Not sure if you have a subscription?