DURHAM – The Durham-based startup NALA Membranes, which recently raised more than $700,000, has announced the company has signed a research agreement with a Singapore-based organization.
The research agreement with Separation Technologies Applied Research and Translation Centre (START), one of Singapore’s Centers of Excellence, will enable the two entities to “collaborate to scale-up the company’s chlorine resistant membrane for pilot testing at municipal water systems,” an emailed statement from NALA Membranes notes.
The company disclosed in an SEC filing that it has raised $712,335 in debt from eight investors between March 16 and April 11. WRAL TechWire reported this fundraising last month. The SEC filing, signed this week, also notes the company could raise up to $1.5 million and is signed by company CEO Sue Mecham.
NALA Membranes will use the funds to accelerate the development and commercialization of its technology, which it believes could change how the world accesses clean water, according to WRAL TechWire’s reporting.
Durham startup NALA Membranes raises $700K to combat global water crisis
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Mecham founded the company with her mother, Judy Riffle. In the statement, Riffle described the collaboration with START, noting that the partnership will enable the company “to accelerate the creation of unique solutions for many industries.”
The company’s technology is a “new generation of reverse osmosis membranes.” NALA Membranes says that the membranes are resistant to chlorine, which is commonly used as a cleaning agent and prevents biological growth, resulting in clogged membranes in reverse osmosis water systems.
“The water industry has been searching for chlorine resistance, something that is missing from today’s crop of commercial membranes,” said Dr. Chakravarthy Gudipati, START’s Technical Director, who will co-lead the project, according to the NALA Membranes email.
In addition, NALA Membranes noted in that email that it has been invited as a Water Leader to Singapore’s International Water Week. That event will occur in April, and the company said that it would also attend the Global Water Summit 2022 in Madrid, Spain, in May 2022 as a presenter in the Tech Idol competition hosted at the summit.
