Switzerland-based chemtech startup CyanoGuard has completed a fundraising and been awarded a non-dilutive SME Instrument grant by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program that, it says, will speed up market penetration and develop further applications for its next generation cyanide monitoring solutions.
Established in 2016, CyanoGuard has since developed and commercialised its solutions for gold mining operations, food safety testing and healthcare.
Co-Founders Benedikt Kirchgässler (CEO) and Mathias Cherbuin (CTO) transformed a chemical technology for rapid toxin detection from the labs of the University of Zurich into a “comprehensive digital solution package” that has found its first commercial application in the gold mining industry.
The company has now raised more than CHF3 million ($3.12 million) to help further develop the technology, which CyanoGuard says can minimise cyanide consumption by 12% while maximising extraction efficiency through real-time, instaneous measurement results.
Kirchgässler said: “These funds enable us to scale our ground-breaking monitoring solutions and roll them out to gold mines around the world.
“I am excited about the positive impact that our digital, artificial intelligence-based technology has on the global gold mining industry as well as the local communities and the environment.
“I believe that we will benefit from both the experience of leading venture funds…as well as the support of the European Union to speed up market penetration and develop further applications for our technology.”
With the newly raised capital from this seed round, CyanoGuard plans to accelerate its go-to-market strategy in the global mining industry.
Alex Stöckl, Founding Partner at Wingman Ventures, who has joined CyanoGuard’s Board of Directors following the funding round, added: “With its current offering, CyanoGuard has a unique value proposition for its mining clients that is beyond improved cyanide testing. This encompasses an efficiency-enhancing digitisation of process control and a more sustainable usage of cyanide in mining operations.
“We are convinced that Benedikt, Mathias and their team will drive CyanoGuard to become a globally leading provider of digital mining solutions.”
The freshly obtained funds are also intended to further expedite the development of CyanoGuard’s product offering for food safety and healthcare applications, the company said.