CIWI

Cover Block

Name	CIWI
Tagline	Produces water treatment chemicals on-site via electrochemical methods
Headquarters	Netherlands
Founded	2023
Stage	Pre-Seed
Business Model	B2B
Industry	Cleantech / Climatetech
Technology	Hardware
Geography	Western Europe
Growth Profile	Venture-Scale Commercial
Founding Team	Co-Founders (2)
Funding Label	Bootstrapped / Grant
Total Disclosed	CHF 100,000 (award) [Author note, Jun 2026]

Links

• Website: https://www.ciwi.earth/
• LinkedIn: https://nl.linkedin.com/company/chemical-innovations-in-water-industries

What an Investor Needs First

CIWI is a Dutch cleantech startup that has developed a patented, containerized electrochemical system to produce essential water treatment chemicals on-site, addressing supply chain fragility and operational cost reduction [YES!Delft]. Co-founders Jasper Schakel and Erik Kraaijeveld identified high costs and logistical barriers to chemical access, leading them to collaborate with TU Delft professor Doris van Halem on a localized production method [YES!Delft]. Their core product generates coagulants, pH agents, and flocculants from basic inputs like steel and salt, integrating into existing water treatment plants without major infrastructure changes [Author note, Jun 2026].

The founding team combines engineering consultancy and water treatment industry experience, with academic validation through their partnership with TU Delft and a win at the Academic Startup Competition 2025 [Silicon Canals]. CIWI is a commercial, venture-scale company. It started with the IMD Venture Award and has been primarily bootstrapped, supported by family funding and paid pilot projects, including collaborations with Brabant Water and STOWA, working with more than eight Dutch water authorities [Author note, Jun 2026]. Over the next 12-18 months, key milestones include technical and economic performance data from initial pilots, conversion of interest from Dutch water boards into firm purchase orders, and the company's ability to attract its first institutional venture capital round to fund manufacturing scale-up.

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core product claims and pilot status are confirmed by company and incubator sources; revenue and valuation figures are from a single database and are unverified.

Taxonomy Snapshot

Axis	Classification
Stage	Pre-Seed
Business Model	B2B
Industry / Vertical	Cleantech / Climatetech
Technology Type	Hardware
Geography	Western Europe
Growth Profile	Venture-Scale Commercial
Founding Team	Co-Founders (2)
Funding	Bootstrapped / Grant

Inside the Company

CIWI, short for Chemical Innovations for Water Industries, was founded in 2023 by engineers Jasper Schakel and Erik Kraaijeveld. The company's origin story is rooted in a practical problem: during a project in Ghana, the founders observed limited accessibility and high cost of imported water treatment chemicals, which inspired them to develop a localized, electrochemical alternative [YES!Delft]. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the firm operates as a cleantech hardware startup, focusing on reducing the environmental and logistical footprint of water treatment.

The company's early development was closely tied to academic research at TU Delft. Professor Doris van Halem, a specialist in drinking water technology, collaborated with the founders to translate the electrochemical concept into a patented system, and she is publicly identified as a co-founder [LinkedIn]. This academic partnership provided a foundation for technical validation, which was further supported by CIWI's acceptance into the YES!Delft incubator program [YES!Delft].

Key operational milestones have followed a deliberate path from lab to field. CIWI started with the IMD Venture Award, a CHF 100,000 prize Jasper Schakel received in 2023 [Author note, Jun 2026]. Since then, the company has been primarily bootstrapped, supported by family funding and paid pilot projects, including collaborations with Brabant Water and STOWA, working with more than eight Dutch water authorities [Author note, Jun 2026]. The company's first commercial-scale pilot was installed at Brabant Water’s Zevenbergen process plant [CIWI]. More recently, CIWI won the Academic Startup Competition in 2025 [Silicon Canals].

Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Founding details, academic partnership, incubator affiliation, and initial pilot are confirmed by the company website and incubator publications. The grant amount and award are reported by secondary press.

Under the Hood

The core of CIWI's proposition is a hardware system that generates essential water treatment chemicals on-site. The company's patented electrochemical device uses electricity to release metal ions from simple base materials, such as steel and salt, to produce coagulants, pH adjustment agents, and flocculants directly at a treatment facility [Perplexity Sonar]. This process is designed to integrate with existing infrastructure without requiring modifications, delivered as a containerized system [Perplexity Sonar, YES!Delft].

The primary public validation of this technology is a commercial-scale pilot. CIWI's first system is installed and operating at Brabant Water's Zevenbergen process plant [CIWI]. A separate, earlier installation was noted at the RWZI Lage Zwaluwe wastewater treatment plant [Jasper Schakel LinkedIn]. The company's method offers lower operational costs, reduced dependency on volatile chemical supply chains, and improved safety and compliance [Author note, Jun 2026]. When combined with green electricity and gas-based steel production, the process can reduce associated CO2 emissions by approximately 70% [Author note, Jun 2026]. Its applications are cited across drinking water, municipal wastewater, and industrial treatment segments [YES!Delft].

The technical development is closely tied to academic research at TU Delft. Professor Doris van Halem, a specialist in drinking water technology, is identified as a co-founder and collaborated on developing the patented electrochemical coagulant-producing system [CIWI, Doris van Halem LinkedIn].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Product claims are consistent across company and incubator sources; technical process description is from a single secondary summary. Pilot installations are confirmed by primary company announcements.

Market Research and Opportunity

The market for decentralized water treatment solutions is gaining urgency as industrial and municipal operators face escalating costs and reliability pressures. The global water treatment chemical market was valued at approximately $38 billion in 2023 [GWI, 2023]. The serviceable available market (SAM) for on-site electrochemical generation in Western Europe is focused on operators with sufficient scale and sustainability mandates to justify capital expenditure on new hardware.

Demand drivers include supply chain resilience and environmental regulation. The European Union's Green Deal and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) are increasing pressure on utilities and industrial players to document and reduce Scope 3 emissions [European Commission]. CIWI's ability to reduce operational costs by approximately 40% in Western Europe, while also offering CO2 reduction, directly targets these compliance and economic needs [Author note, Jun 2026].

Metric	Value
Global Water Treatment Chemicals	$38,100M
Coagulants & Flocculants Segment	$12,000M
European Industrial Water Treatment Market	$8,500M

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market sizing relies on third-party reports for analogous segments; CIWI's specific SAM/SOM is not publicly modeled.

Competition and Substitutes

The competitive field for CIWI is defined by the entrenched supply chain it aims to disrupt and adjacent innovators. Global chemical manufacturers like Kemira, SNF Flocculant, and Ecolab dominate the market for coagulants and flocculants, delivering them via truck to treatment plants [YES!Delft]. This incumbent model is vulnerable on cost, carbon footprint, and supply chain resilience.

CIWI's defensible edge rests on its patented electrochemical system and its deep academic validation. The technology was developed in collaboration with TU Delft Professor Doris van Halem and is protected by patents [CIWI]. Furthermore, the company's integration into the Dutch water ecosystem, through the YES!Delft accelerator, the pilot with utility Brabant Water, and recognition from the Water Alliance, grants it a credible beachhead [YES!Delft, Water Alliance].

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitive mapping is inferred from the company's stated market position and known industry structure; no direct competitor data is publicly cited.

Opportunity

If CIWI can prove its on-site chemical generation technology is reliable and cost-effective at scale, the prize is a fundamental re-architecting of a multi-billion-dollar global chemical supply chain for water treatment. The headline opportunity is for CIWI to become the default on-site chemical generation infrastructure for municipal water utilities in Western Europe. The company is already operating a commercial-scale pilot at a major Dutch utility, Brabant Water, which validates the core integration claim [CIWI].

Scenario	What happens
Municipal Standard in the Netherlands	CIWI's system becomes a preferred or mandated technology for new and upgraded wastewater treatment plants across the country.
Industrial Water Treatment Verticalization	The company targets specific, high-volume industrial segments with tailored containerized systems.

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- The core technology and pilot details are confirmed by the company and its incubator. The growth scenarios are logical extrapolations from the current beachhead but lack public evidence of advanced commercial discussions. Valuation and revenue estimates are from a single, unverified database.

Sources

1. [YES!Delft] CIWI | https://yesdelft.com/startups/ciwi/
2. [YES!Delft] CIWI Develops New, Clean Additive for Water Purification | https://yesdelft.com/news/ciwi-receives-a-financial-boost-from-rabo-impact-fund/
3. [CIWI] CIWI - Chemical Innovation for Water Industries | https://www.ciwi.earth/
4. [LinkedIn] Doris van Halem - Professor Drinking Water Quality & Treatment - Technische Universiteit Delft | https://www.linkedin.com/in/doris-van-halem-3621435/
5. [Silicon Canals] Academic Startup Competition 2025 | https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/academic-startup-competition-2025/
6. [Jasper Schakel LinkedIn] CIWI's First Pilot at RWZI Lage Zwaluwe | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasper-schakel/
7. [Water Alliance] CIWI: cleaner water without trucks full of chemicals | https://wateralliance.nl/en/ciwi-cleaner-water-without-trucks-full-of-chemicals/
8. [Dealroom.co] CIWI company information, funding & investors | https://app.dealroom.co/companies/ciwi
9. [GWI, 2023] Global Water Treatment Chemicals | https://www.globalwaterintel.com/
10. [Frost & Sullivan, 2022] European Industrial Water Treatment Market | https://www.frost.com/
11. [European Commission] Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) | https://finance.ec.europa.eu/capital-markets-uion-and-financial-markets/company-reporting-and-auditing/company-reporting/corporate-sustainability-reporting_en
12. [IMD] Eco-friendly chemicals company wins 2023 MBA Venture Award | https://www.imd.org/news/innovation/eco-friendly-chemicals-company-wins-2023-mba-venture-award/