News: LEDs
30 April 2025
UV-C LED disinfection system maker AquiSense closes Series A investment round
AquiSense Inc of Erlanger, KY, USA (which designs and makes UV-C LED water disinfection systems) has secured Series A investment led by Burnt Island Ventures, following a recent management buyout. Additional investment comes from a local Kentucky Capital Fund and returning private seed investors led by Randy Knapmeyer. Funds will be used to accelerate growth in a broad range of water treatment applications including beverage, pharmaceutical, oil & gas and municipal.
Founded in 2014, AquiSense says it was one of the first to commercialize UV-C LED technology for water disinfection applications. It now has over 500,000 installations globally. The firm currently provides UV-C LED disinfection solutions for point-of-use, point-of-entry, laboratory and full-scale industrial and municipal applications.
“UV disinfection has been a star performer in water treatment for the past couple of decades and this investment validates our position that UV-C LED technology isn’t a future abstract notion, but the core driver to continue this growth,” says founder & CEO Oliver Lawal. “We have strong customer partnerships in the US, Europe and Asia that value the full life-cycle benefits of our products,” he adds.
“There are several reasons why we were drawn to AquiSense,” says Burnt Island Ventures partner Steve Kloos. “(1) the executive team, led by Oliver, has been together for several years and are highly effective and their pace and quality of decision-making is really good; (2) AquiSense is the clear market and technology leader in LED tech for water and wastewater UV treatment with deep know-how and strong patent IP; (3) UV LED systems offer a wide range of benefits over legacy mercury UVs and are on a Moore’s Law-type performance and cost trajectory.”
Increasingly users of UV technology are seeking alternatives to traditional mercury-based lamps, as they prioritize sustainability. Currently, the majority of the UV disinfection market uses mercury-based lamp technology, but these face global usage restrictions, with an eventual new mining ban in 2032, as set out by the UN Minamata Convention on Mercury. Adopted in 2013 and entered into force in 2017, the convention aims to reduce mercury pollution, which is one of the World Health Organization’s top 10 chemicals of ‘major public concern’.
