Xeros cleans up with fundraising success

The Rotherham-based environmentally friendly cleaning company said the funds were raised from new investors including Entrepreneurs Fund, who led the round, Parkwalk Advisors and Finance Yorkshire, as well as existing investors IP Group, IP Venture Fund and RisingStars Growth Fund II.

Following completion of the 1.9m first tranche of the financing, IP Group holds a stake of 25.6 per cent in Xeros.

In addition, a further 12.3 per cent interest is held by IP Venture Fund, a venture capital fund managed by IP Group.

Xeros, a spin-out from the University of Leeds, has developed an entirely new clothes cleaning process.

Harnessing over thirty years of research at the university, Xeros is the brand name for a patented polymer-based cleaning system that reduces the cost and environmental impact of cleaning with water.

Water scarcity is an urgent global issue and conventional laundry accounts for 15 per cent of domestic water consumption.

The last major lower water technology was front loading washing machines over 50 years ago.

Xeros saves up to 90 per cent of the water compared to front loading laundry systems and claims to give the same performance as conventional washing.

The patented process uses reusable plastic beads alongside a fraction of the detergent, to absorb and remove dirt.

Xeros said it has the potential to provide significant benefits in energy and water efficiency and lower effluent without any compromise on cleaning.

Over the last 12 months, Xeros has developed a prototype machine that removes the beads from clothes after washing.

It has also confirmed manufacturing and distribution partnerships both in the UK and US and is gearing up for an initial launch in the commercial laundry market by the end of 2011.

The company is also continuing to work towards the development of a household washing system.

Alan Aubrey, chief executive of IP Group, said: "We remain extremely excited by Xeros' potential to become an excellent example of cutting edge British innovation in the 'clean technology' sector."

Bill Westwater, chief executive of Xeros, said: "We now have the funds to step up our technical development, particularly towards our ultimate goal of developing a washing system for the household.

"Genuine innovation in the laundry category is pretty hard to come by so Xeros stands out as a game-changer. The opportunity is to provide consumers with lower cost cleaning and dramatically reduce the considerable environment harm of laundry."

Alan aubrey: 'We remain extremely excited by the potential of Xeros.'.