Queen’s University Belfast today invested an undisclosed amount in its Ireland-based cleantech spinout MOF Technologies through research commercialisation arm, Qubis.
Qubis invested alongside UK-based strategic investor Excelsa Ventures, a strategic investment arm of family-owned industrials group Sturrock and Robson.
MOF Technologies has developed metal organic frameworks (MOFs) for use in storing and filtration of carbon dioxide and heat pumps.
The flexible properties of MOFs mean they can help improve energy efficiency when capturing natural gas by optimising for the precise environment in which they are to operate.
The company was founded in 2012, based on the technology developed by Stuart James, chair of inorganic chemistry at Queen’s University Belfast.
The funding will assist with expanding the production’s potential output and increasing their research laboratory space and number of employees fourfold.
In 2015, MOF Technologies received a €1.2m ($1.4m) award from the European Union’s Horizon 2020, which it said would be used to scale up its production process of its absorbent nanomaterials.
Paschal McCloskey, CEO of MOF Technologies, said: “Excelsa Ventures is a perfect fit for a company like us. Its focus has always been on supporting entrepreneurs with a desire to bring disruptive innovation into play for the benefit of industry.
“That approach has been at the heart of what we have been doing at MOF Technologies since the company’s inception. Beyond the financial injection though, it is also reassuring to know we now have access to the significant experience and corporate resources only a partner like Excelsa Ventures can bring. You can’t put a price on that.”
