Imperial Incubator Success Story: Puraffinity

Puraffinity

Imperial spin-out Puraffinity is an advanced materials company that designs and develops novel adsorbent media to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from water across the residential, commercial, industrial, municipal and environmental services market sectors. The company’s vision is to improve human and environmental health by effectively removing PFAS from water.

Fast facts:

• Founders: Imperial alumni Henrik Hagemann and Gabi Santosa
• Founding year: 2015
• Graduation from the Incubator: Jan 2022
• Currently based: Scale Space, White City Innovation District
• Current no. of employees: 32
• Funding raised to date: total Series A fund-raising £17M

1. How has being supported by the Imperial Incubator contributed to your success? 
   The Incubator has provided access to world-class laboratory facilities, expert business coaching, and an inclusive entrepreneurial community. This support allowed us to refine our technology, Puratech G400, in a collaborative environment while benefiting from networking opportunities and mentorship that accelerated our growth trajectory. The ability to test and develop our solution in such a well-equipped space has been instrumental to our development as a company. 
2. What impact has being part of the Incubator had on your ability to raise funding and investment? 
   Being part of the Incubator enhanced our credibility as a deep-tech startup, showcasing our potential to investors. The access to state-of-the-art labs and Imperial’s entrepreneurial ecosystem played a key role in securing significant funding rounds, including our Series A funding, which totalled over £16.9 million.  
3. What collaborations and new opportunities have being based in White City Innovation District opened up? 
   The White City Innovation District fostered collaborations with leading academic institutions, which has provided access to talent, industry experts, and other startups. This has allowed us to connect with specialists across life sciences, cleantech, and engineering sectors. We’ve gone for breakfasts with other founders to share tactics on embedding the latest tech advances or how to negotiate a fundraise as very tangibly helpful input. 
4. How important has access to advanced facilities and lab space been to your innovation journey? 
   Access to advanced facilities, such as laboratories and shared equipment at the Incubator, was critical for developing and testing Puraffinity’s predictive materials discovery process and the products to tackle a big environmental crisis. That requires health and safety precautions for the labs themselves, especially when taking toxic forever contaminants out of water. These resources allowed us to focus on innovation without the logistical challenges of establishing independent lab infrastructure. The availability of equipment streamlined our R&D processes and enabled rapid development of our product. 
5. What is the single highlight of your time in the Incubator?
   Going for the West London Business Awards dinner with the Incubator team and winning the Tech Company of the Year prize. That was an epic culmination to mark the transition from the shared lab space into our dedicated facility at Scale Space. This transition symbolised the validation of Puratech G400’s potential to address critical environmental challenges.
6. What’s next for the company? 
   Embedding the current macro trend of GenAI into material science discovery to tackle pollution is a VERY top of mind. That’s alongside the focus on scaling up production, expanding commercial applications for Puratech G400, and achieving our goal of improving human and environmental health by effectively removing PFAS from water. Additionally, we’re growing the team, investing heavily in R&D capabilities, and building strategic partnerships to accelerate global market entry.