From University Spin-Out to a Community of 1,800 Investors
Since our launch, Crowdcube has not only helped us raise capital, but also to build a community of investors who share the company’s vision for tackling water scarcity through high efficiency, and sustainable water treatment.
Over four Crowdcube campaigns, we have raised more than £1.9 million from over 1,800 investors, helping us to accelerate the development and commercialisation of our patented HyBatch™ technology.
2021: The First Campaign
We launched our first Crowdcube campaign in October 2021, shortly after spinning-out from the University of Birmingham. At the time, the company was focused on applying its breakthrough membrane technology to lithium extraction and desalination, offering a cleaner and more energy-efficient alternative to conventional processes.
The campaign exceeded all expectations, raising £738,705 from 1,146 investors, reaching 184% of our funding target. This investment enabled us to advance field trials, grow the team and develop our technology for real world applications, as well as starting our engagement with potential customers.
2022: Scaling the Vision
Building on the success of our initial trials, we returned to Crowdcube in September 2022. By this stage, we had broadened our market focus, demonstrating how our hybrid batch reverse osmosis technology could help industrial users and utilities recover more water while reducing energy consumption and treatment costs.
The second campaign raised £700,680 from 1,027 investors, further validating investor confidence in both the market potential of the technology and the capability of the team behind it.
2024: International Expansion
In February 2024, we launched our third Crowdcube campaign, raising £281,280 from 408 Crowdcube investors. In this round, we had also secured investment from SQM Lithium Ventures, strengthening its international growth ambitions and other direct investors, with a total of £2.0m raised during 2024.
The company was increasingly recognised for the potential of HyBatch technology to address some of the world’s most pressing water challenges, from industrial wastewater treatment to water reuse and resource recovery.
2025: A Growing Investor Community
In June 2025, we began working with Earth Capital as our corporate advisor, marking an important step in our transition from technology development and validation towards commercial scale-up. With its focus on impact-driven technologies and experience supporting businesses through growth and investment, Earth Capital has been working closely with us to strengthen our fundraising strategy and institutional investor proposition, while helping us engage with potential investors and strategic partners and build the foundations for international growth.
In September 2025, we completed a further Crowdcube raise through a convertible funding round, securing £189,570 from 219 investors alongside a growing group of experienced private investors and family offices whose direct investments took the total raised to £1.3m.
By 2025 we had raised more than £1.9 million through Crowdcube and expanded the Company’s investor community to approximately 1,800 shareholders, including direct investors. As we said earlier, many of the investors introduced through Crowdcube have become direct investors and active supporters of the company, introducing us to customers and suppliers as well as providing advice and feedback on our pitches and presentations.
We completed field trials with SUEZ in the South of France and TopDental in the UK, as well as validating the performance of HyBatch in Lithium brine through laboratory trials of large samples shipped from SQM’s operations in Chile. We also signed our first licencing agreement with RealZLD in India who installed the first commercial system with Bosch manufacturing, delivering a high efficiency industrial wastewater Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) system.
2026: The Next Phase of Growth
The company has now raised more than £5 million through a combination of crowdfunding, grants and venture capital investment, with support from investors including Crowdcube, SQM Lithium Ventures, Clean Engineering and University of Birmingham Enterprise, as well as 40 direct private investors.
Having proved the technology through multiple field trials and customer pilots, today, we are now focused on driving our commercial growth. RealZLD is delivering orders for ZLD systems and recently set up a manufacturing facility to build HyBatch systems in India, we completed the municipal field trial with SUEZ in France, we are working closely with Xylem in the US as part of their 2026 Accelerator programme alongside multiple distribution and licencing opportunities in niche markets around the world.
Our current Crowdcube campaign aims to raise between £500k and £1m, with £650k already committed from 106 investors, both direct and through Crowdcube. This gives investors an opportunity to participate in the next phase of the company’s journey as we scale the commercial deployment of HyBatch technology across industrial and municipal water treatment markets. This funding will support business growth, project delivery, international expansion and preparations for a future institutional investment round.
Earth Capital continues to support us as we scale, working closely with the management team to strengthen our investor and strategic partner network and position the business for its next stage of growth.
We have already demonstrated Salinity’s technology with customers and partners across multiple international markets and continue developing strategic partnerships that support global deployment. HyBatch enables customers to recover significantly more water, reduce energy consumption by up to 50% and lower total operating costs by at least 30% when compared with conventional reverse osmosis systems.
Looking Ahead
From a university spin-out with a promising idea to a company supported by thousands of investors around the world, our Crowdcube journey reflects the power of community-backed innovation.
As water scarcity becomes one of the defining challenges of the 21st century, we remain focused on our mission: helping companies and utilities to treat water better by recovering more water, using less energy and creating a more sustainable future.
If you are interested in investing in Salinity, either directly or through Crowdcube, please visit our Website Investor Page
Risk Warning
Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong.