WiSAR clients, MyGug, have raised €900,000 in seed funding that it says will assist with its expansion into the UK and Europe.
The Cork-based food waste-to-energy start-up have developed an egg-shaped anaerobic digester that turns food waste into renewable energy and fertiliser. Dried bacteria are used to start the breakdown process and once the waste is macerated it flows into a storage tank.
The end products are biogas and liquid plant feed. The feed can be used to enrich soil while a small pump pressurises the gas for use for heating or cooking. The system can be remotely controlled by an app and 1.5kg of food waste produces roughly 1.5L of bio fertiliser and one to two hours of cooking time.
The latest funding round, which follows a pre-seed raise in February 2023, was led by BVP Investments with support from Enterprise Ireland. The State agency has identified MyGug as a “high potential start-up”.
Founded by husband and wife duo Kieran Coffey and Fiona Kelleher, MyGug has won a number of awards since coming to market with its product in 2022, including the sustainability category in the 2023 Irish Times Innovation Awards.
Stephen Burdock, executive director at BVP, said Ms Kelleher and Mr Coffey’s leadership impressed investors.
He also said their product was “simple to install and has been proven to work thereby providing a large unmet market opportunity for solving waste and energy challenges simultaneously for businesses across different sectors”.
MyGug’s digester was designed by Mr Coffey, who is a mechanical and environmental engineer, comes in various sizes and can be used to dispose of 99.9 per cent of food waste excluding bones and hard stones.
MyGug collaborated with WiSAR researchers in developing the unique MyGug prototype under the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher programme.
