Molecular Sustainable Solutions receives investment from BeAble Capital to boost disinfection and sterilization methods

Molecular Sustainable Solutions, a spin-off from the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló (UJI), secures €186,000 investment from BeAble Capital, a leading Science Equity fund specializing in disruptive scientific technologies.

The disinfection and sterilization methods developed by Molecular Sustainable Solutions —more powerful and sustainable than current ones— are capable of tackling particularly resistant and dangerous microorganisms, such as the fungus Candida auris, popularly known as “the killer fungus.”

With this investment, Molecular Sustainable Solutions will be able to accelerate the maturation of its technology and move towards rapid market entry, strengthening its position as a benchmark in innovative solutions for public health and sustainability.

The company, based at Espaitec, the UJI Science and Technology Park, thus becomes the first spin-off from the public university in Castelló to receive funding from a venture capital firm.

Effective disinfection

The solutions developed by the company enable fast, highly effective microbiological disinfection without the need for complex equipment or corrosive compounds. These features are especially valuable in sectors such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and food production, where controlling the spread of pathogens like Listeria or Salmonella is critical. In Spain alone, these bacteria trigger around 180 health alerts each year.

Chemist Carlos Estévez, current CEO of the company, together with UJI researchers Eduardo García Verdugo, Santiago Luis Lafuente, and Víctor Sans Sangorrín, were responsible for transferring the patented technology to the spin-off in 2023, coinciding with its incorporation. The work carried out by the Supramolecular and Sustainable Chemistry Group in the Department of Inorganic and Organic Chemistry —formerly led by Professor Santiago Luis and now coordinated by Eduardo García Verdugo— was decisive in the discovery of the innovative sterilisation agents underpinning the project.

In addition to its progress in this field, the group is driving the development of solutions with strong application potential, such as technologies for detecting allergens on surfaces in the food industry (https://www.proyectokryptonita.com/). It also stands out for its innovations in green chemistry, with patents that enable the transformation of CO₂ into high-value-added chemicals and processes for recycling plastic waste, such as polyurethane foams, thereby contributing to the advancement of the circular economy.

The key to investor support

Public and private investment in Deep Science technologies is becoming increasingly important. Since 2018, BeAble Capital’s Science Equity fund has invested in more than 40 Spanish companies with highly disruptive and sustainable technologies in key economic sectors such as green chemistry.

Almudena Trigo, founder and chair of BeAble Capital, stated: “Investing in sectors that address challenges vital to our survival —such as eliminating pollutants, greener and better energy storage, water, waste revalorization, or new materials— with a strong profitable and sustainable component will allow us, as a country, to position ourselves at the core of Europe’s reindustrialization, which is so urgently needed today”.

Molecular Sustainable Solutions’ disruptive technology is based on an innovative peroxycarboxylic acid formulated from simple, cost-effective, non-toxic reagents that are readily available on the market. Thanks to this solution, the Spanish spin-off has achieved sterilisation effectiveness up to 60 times higher than the best existing microbicidal agent, showing extraordinary efficacy against critical pathogens such as Candida auris, the so-called “killer fungus,” which often causes outbreaks in hospitals worldwide.

Strategic milestone

According to Carlos Estévez, co-founder and CEO of Molecular Sustainable Solutions: “This investment support marks a strategic milestone that will facilitate the scalability of our technology, helping to save millions of lives and reduce environmental impact, which is essential for cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization processes”.

For the first time in 150 years, it has been possible to design a sterilization agent with all the properties demanded by the market and by health and environmental authorities, representing a breakthrough in research and technology transfer. Although Spain has led the growth of European patents (44% over the last decade, according to the European Patent Office), the country still lags far behind other European nations in investment in green chemistry, green energy, biotechnology, or new materials to boost industrial technology in key economic sectors.

Molecular Sustainable Solutions is a clear example of how, through public-sector initiatives and in collaboration with venture capital funds such as BeAble Capital, it is possible to transform university-generated knowledge into disruptive technologies with real impact on society, industry, and global sustainability.uk