Orbital Systems, the clean-tech startup that has developed a way to save (a lot) of water while showering, announced a $ 5 M (€ 4.3 M) series A round with a very impressive list of investors.

The startup has designed the world’s most efficient shower system and has helped to save 1 million litres of water since it launched commercially just six months ago. Since earlier the former Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström is an investor, and this round is with U.S. David Epstein, together with a large selection of Nordic VCs and angels, including: The af Jochnick family, Peter Enberg, Rosengård Invest (led by Ljubo Mrnjavac), Dendera Ventures (led by Thomas Wiklund) and Mårten Öbrink.

Focusing on where the market is

The combination of Nordic VC funds and US strategic investment supports Orbital Systems’ goal of transitioning from a technology-oriented startup to a market-oriented company. Orbital Systems will target strategic markets such as California where water scarcity is an ongoing challenge, and continue with its R&D programme to enhance user experience.

Orbital Systems is an award-winning cleantech startup led by founder and CEO Mehrdad Mahdjoubi, and set up in Malmö. The company has developed the world’s most efficient shower system, “Shower of the Future”, allowing up to 90% water savings and 80% energy savings while at the same time increasing comfort and hygiene. Its showers have already saved 1 million litres of water since the end of 2014. The company hopes this latest injection of funding will help it to save 1 billion litres of water by the end of next year.

“We’re confident that with the support of such reputable and experienced investors, we can fulfill the next phase of our plan to grow the business beyond Sweden and into markets where water is more scarce.” says Mehrdad Mahdjoubi.

Inspired by an academic cooperation project with NASA and born out of Lund’s Engineering University, the company was launched under the mentorship of Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström.

“We want to help create a more sustainable future. Our product has been trialled, sold and installed in a variety of Swedish facilities, now we are poised to expand and meet our goal of helping people all over the world save energy and water.”

Orbital Systems already has showers installed in a wide range of places including several publicly owned facilities in Sweden, Sweden’s largest construction company, the Swedish Armed Forces, a refugee centre, a football stadium, a luxury hotel and several sports and aquatics centres.