So Sponge

The problem:

Hello, I am Guirec Courbon, co-founder and CEO of So Sponge. A company specialized in moisture regulation.

Moisture is a key factor behind many issues impacting various markets, where current solutions tend to be excessively energy-consuming and unsustainable.

The solution:

So Sponge was born from this observation and offers a new approach, based on an innovative process using mesoporous materials which has been patented in 2021.

Our mineral sponge captures or releases moisture from the air around a desired level spontaneously. By alternating adsorption and desorption cycles, our sponge regenerates without energy while maintaining its cyclic capacity sustainably.

The markets:

After 3 years of R&D, we are launching a first passive product for the container transport market, where we guarantee the integrity of goods against moisture risk, a market estimated at over €50 million. In partnership with a specialized distributor, we will conduct a Proof of Concept (POC) in Q1 2024 and plan commercial launch by Q4 2024.

With this initial market validation, we aim to accelerate the development of our product range, which will deploy our solutions in housing, warehouses, factories, and more broadly in the industrial moisture regulation applications market, estimated at several hundred million euros.

The objective of the fundraising:

To successfully carry out this project, our founding team consists of complementary profiles: Melaz, our CSO, is a professor at UCBL1 and the originator of the project, Elsa, our CTO, is a research engineer specialized in process engineering, and myself, as CEO, having previously founded 2 companies.

To support this development, and after closing a funding round to achieve our 2024 objectives, we aim to raise €2.5 million in two rounds, which will:

• Accelerate the commercial and industrial development of our first passive product
• Strengthen our R&D team with two main objectives:
  • Introduce new formats of our passive product to access new niches similar to containers
  • Overcome the technical milestones associated with the development of our active product range for the housing market and industrial moisture regulation applications
• Finally, this funding will help structure the organization and support functions of the company.

Conclusion:

Supporting So Sponge means enabling the development of a more environmentally friendly alternative for moisture regulation.