10 New Wastewater Treatment Companies to Watch

Iryna Bursuk

February 25, 2024

With 29K+ companies, the wastewater treatment industry is experiencing a wave of innovation with innovative solutions developed by new wastewater treatment companies. We feature 10 standout firms from 1.3K+ new entrants, driving progress in floating treatment wetlands, electrocoagulation-based water filtration, sludge-free water recovery & more.

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New wastewater treatment companies are moving beyond traditional processes and introducing advanced technologies to tackle the world’s growing water challenges. In this article, we spotlight 10 novel innovators offering solutions like electrocoagulation-based water filtration systems that offer more efficient contaminant removal or floating treatment wetlands that enhance biodiversity while purifying water.

Additionally, the adoption of digital twins for real-time monitoring and predictive analytics of water treatment plants marks a leap towards smarter, more efficient operations. Further, advances in membrane bioreactors by these firms are enhancing biological wastewater treatment, offering compact, energy-efficient solutions.

The report was last updated in January 2025.

 

 

Key Takeaways

Drawing insights from the Big Data & AI-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform that provides data on over 4.7+ million emerging companies globally, we explore the evolving landscape of the wastewater and utility industry. This sector is marked by key trends and a substantial workforce, shaping its future. Here are some key insights at a glance:

  • Latest Wastewater Treatment Trends: Some of the major wastewater treatment industry trends include decentralized infrastructure, advanced membrane technologies, bio-based water remediation, carbon-based water purification, and novel water disinfection systems.
  • Wastewater Treatment Industry Stats: The wastewater treatment sector comprises 29 000+ organizations worldwide. On average, the industry employs about 8 people in 1300+ new companies founded in the last five years, witnessing 2020 as the average founding year. Moreover, the average funding received by the shipbuilding industry in the same span is 22.8M.

The global industrial wastewater treatment market size is projected to be worth around USD 34.11 billion by 2034. It is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.44% during the forecast period from 2025 to 2034.

  • List of Wastewater Treatment Companies (Top 10):
    1. Zoss Water – Electrocoagulation-based Water Filtration
    2. OmiFlo – Floating Treatment Wetlands
    3. Laguna Innovation – Virtually Sludge-free Water Recovery
    4. Cimico – Biological Wastewater Treatment
    5. GI Aqua Tech – Nanomaterials-based Wastewater Treatment
    6. Spacedrip – Membrane Bioreactors
    7. SHIT2POWER – Wastewater-as-a-Resource
    8. AInwater – Digital Twin-based Plant Monitoring
    9. Awetech Works – Water Purification & Conservation
    10. Nerou – ML-powered Water Treatment Data Analysis

Discover 10 out of 1300+ Emerging Wastewater Treatment Companies

In this section, we highlight the top 10 wastewater treatment companies in the world that are addressing global water scarcity and pollution challenges, adapting to environmental regulations, and changing market needs. By leveraging electrocoagulation-based water filtration, they are simplifying the removal of contaminants with high efficiency and low energy consumption. Through the integration of floating treatment wetlands, they are utilizing natural processes for water purification, enhancing biodiversity while treating wastewater.

With the adoption of digital twin-based monitoring, these firms offer real-time insights and predictive analytics for water treatment plants, optimizing operations and reducing costs. Additionally, their advances in membrane bioreactors showcase cutting-edge biological treatment with smaller footprints and higher-quality effluent. Continue reading to explore more such innovative wastewater treatment solutions.

Note on Signal Strength
One of the unique metrics we feature for each company is Signal Strength, a proprietary data point generated by our Discovery Platform. Signal Strength gauges the extent to which a company’s influence has permeated the global ecosystem of startups, scaleups, and emerging companies. This proprietary metric serves as a valuable guidepost for understanding a company’s standing in the broader market landscape.

1. Zoss Water

  • Founding Year: 2021
  • Employee Range: 2-10
  • Location: India
  • Signal Strength: Strong

Zoss Water develops Zoss Advanced Control Electro System (Zoss ACES), a nano effluent treatment system that advances wastewater management through electrocoagulation. It significantly reduces sludge production, enhances floc size compared to chemical treatments, and settles sludge effectively, minimizing secondary pollution by avoiding chemical use.

Zoss ACES removes a range of pollutants, including heavy metals like chromium, as well as colloidal and suspended solids, fats, oils, grease, organic compounds, and pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and cysts. It also eliminates dyes and contaminants from various industrial effluents, making it suitable for diverse applications from dairy to automotive industries. This solution allows water treatment facilities to reduce their environmental impact while addressing complex wastewater challenges.

2. OmiFlo

  • Founding Year: 2019
  • Employee Range: 2-10
  • Location: Kenya
  • Signal Strength: Strong

OmiFlo builds Phytofix, a chemical-free wastewater treatment that uses natural processes to purify water. The company deploys its proprietary Floating Green Filter technology that utilizes floating wetlands, providing better results in wastewater and stormwater treatment compared to traditional constructed wetlands. Phytofix is more cost-effective, requires less land, and is environmentally friendly. Beneficiaries of the solution include residential areas, commercial establishments, and municipalities seeking sustainable water treatment.

3. Laguna Innovation

  • Founding Year: 2020
  • Employee Range: 2-10
  • Location: Israel
  • Signal Strength: Medium

Laguna Innovation builds a virtually sludge-free wastewater treatment solution, Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH). The technology is based on natural processes, utilizing algae and bacteria in both aerobic and anaerobic environments, mimicking a natural lagoon more compactly and efficiently.

 

 

The process significantly reduces organic pollution and biological oxygen demand while producing minimal sludge. WASH also operates entirely on solar energy and eliminates the need for an electrical grid connection. This enables 24/7 operation in areas lacking sewer grids or wastewater treatment facilities. The company’s recycled clean water is usable for non-consumption purposes like irrigation.

4. Cimico

  • Founding Year: 2019
  • Employee Range: 11-50
  • Location: Spain
  • Signal Strength: Very Strong

Cimico develops various biological wastewater treatment solutions featuring proprietary and patented designs and control systems developed by process engineers. The solutions include a Cimico mobbed moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) eeff, which is an energy-efficient way of removing organic matter, and low nitrogen concentration without recirculating sludge. Further, the Cimico mobbed MBBR ifas biologically removes organic matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus with minimal space requirement.

The Cimico sembba mbsbr ifas is SBR optimized with a moving bed and acts as an alternative to AGS options. It comes with a secondary clarifier and is suitable for remodeling existing SBRs.  Lastly, the Cimico Anammox MBBR ifas minimizes nitrogen load and Cimico amas MBBR ifas presents an advanced version of MABR technology that ensures less energy consumption.

The startup also has a mathematical simulation tool called FLIMATH, which allows increased accuracy and optimized operation. The tool and the solutions are suitable for industries like food and beverage, textile, oil and gas, chemical, paper, and more. It is also suitable for urban localities with small, medium, and large sized populations.

5. GI Aqua Tech

  • Founding Year: 2021
  • Employee Range: 11-50
  • Location: Germany
  • Signal Strength: Medium Strong

GI Aqua Tech specializes in advanced wastewater treatment through its G.NANO technology. It utilizes nanoscale materials that have high surface area, reactivity, and adsorption capabilities, effectively reducing pollutants in both industrial and municipal wastewater.

 

 

The G.NANO mechanism includes steps like pH buffering, organic compounds oxidation, and flocculation, leading to compact sludge formation. The technology also ensures high-quality treated wastewater and non-hazardous sludge. GI Aqua Tech also offers mechanical systems to optimize the distribution of nanomaterials, enhancing pollutant removal efficiency.

 

 

6. Spacedrip

  • Founding Year: 2019
  • Employee Range: 11-50
  • Location: Estonia
  • Signal Strength: Medium Strong

Spacedrip specializes in advanced wastewater treatment with its membrane bioreactors. It uses activated sludge, micro and ultrafiltration, and automated reverse osmosis modules.

 

 

The company’s systems, equipped with software and five sensors, automate and monitor all processes, significantly reducing maintenance and costs. The technology ensures the transformation of wastewater into reusable or potable water, suitable for irrigation, laundry, or drinking while maintaining high water quality through continuous monitoring.

Their disinfection module also uses electrolysis-based chlorination and UV filters. Beneficiaries include municipal and industrial sectors seeking efficient water recycling solutions.

7. SHIT2POWER

  • Founding Year: 2021
  • Employee Range: 2-10
  • Location: Germany
  • Signal Strength: Strong

SHIT2POWER enables the effective use of sewage sludge. The firm does this by employing a novel technique that uses process heat to effectively dry sludge, creating an energy-self-sufficient system that runs without the need for outside energy sources.

Furthermore, SHIT2POWER leverages mechanical sludge preparation to attain granulation for the thermo-chemical process that follows. This enables sustainable wastewater resource management while also optimizing energy efficiency. Wastewater treatment plants aiming to lessen their environmental impact and enhance their sludge management procedures find the solution helpful.

8. AInwater

  • Founding Year: 2020
  • Employee Range: 2-10
  • Location: Chile
  • Signal Strength: Very Strong

AInwater develops a digital twin to improve water treatment plant performance and efficiency. It provides suggestions and prediction warnings for important control parameters including IVL, F/M, sludge age, and WAS-RAS rates. This aids in preserving ideal conditions inside the treatment plant, enabling effective operation and adherence to environmental regulations.

Additionally, the platform offers an adjustable dashboard that lets customers manage and enhance their water treatment procedures.

9. Awetech Works

  • Founding Year: 2019
  • Employee Range: 11-50
  • Location: India
  • Signal Strength: Very Strong

Awetech Works provides biodigesters, zero liquid discharge (ZLD) systems, sewage treatment plants (STPs), and effluent treatment plants (ETPs). To improve sewage treatment efficiency, its STPs use sequential batch reactors (SBR), membrane bioreactors (MBR), and moving bed bioreactors (MBBR).

The ETPs also combine physicochemical treatment, biological treatment, electrocoagulation, multi-membrane filtration, and dissolved air flotation (DAF). With the use of technologies for water recycling, evaporation, and crystallization, the company’s ZLD systems eliminate liquid waste while enabling water conservation.

10. Nerou

  • Founding Year: 2021
  • Employee Range: 2-10
  • Location: Germany
  • Signal Strength: Strong

Nerou‘s machine learning-powered software simplifies wastewater treatment management. It allows real-time monitoring and control from any device, offering a user-friendly dashboard for quick status assessments.

The software also aids in water analysis documentation, supporting both manual and automated data inputs with immediate error and plausibility checks. Customizable settings allow for tailored data management, ensuring relevance and ease of use. Nerou further enhances decision-making with predictive algorithms, providing actionable recommendations for operational adjustments.

Nerou, in this way, improves efficiency, reduces costs, and supports sustainability by optimizing resource use in wastewater treatment processes.

Ready to Explore All Wastewater Treatment Companies?

This overview highlights just a few wastewater treatment solutions from 1300+ new companies currently covered by the Discovery Platform. To explore them all, book a personalized demo or download one of our free Industry Innovation Reports for a quick overview.