Women Leading Enspired Solutions Aim at Solving the PFAS Problem

MSU Research Foundation portfolio company set to start field testing after recent $2.5 million in seed funding commitment.

Written by Rich Keener

After working together for nearly a decade on the remediation of contaminated sites, Denise Kay and Meng Wang became increasingly concerned about the significant environmental problem of harmful PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), a group of synthetic chemicals that have been used widely for more than 60 years to make substances such as firefighting foams, coatings and lubricants.

At the same time, they saw the limitations of current PFAS remediation methods.

After reading an article in a Scientific Reports journal describing a chemical reaction to destroy PFAS, they soon learned that the chemistry was patented in the United States but not developed commercially. So, they decided to do something that many with lesser fortitude wouldn’t dare to do: They quit their jobs to start a company to tackle the PFAS problem head on.

“We knew we had the knowledge, experience, and drive to bring this to market, so we obtained the patent license, quit our careers and started our journey as first-time entrepreneurs,” said Kay, who is the CEO of Enspired Solutions, which she co-founded in 2021 with Wang, the company’s director.

It is worth noting that both Kay and Wang described the chemical reaction outlined in Nature as “elegant”—an apt descriptor for women who hold doctorates in soil science and environmental toxicology (Kay) and chemical engineering (Wang).

“We immediately realized its potential to be developed into a practical solution to alleviate the most challenging problem that we face in the environment today,” Wang said. “At the time, we evaluated multiple pathways to make commercialization occur and we determined that founding our own startup was the only way to make it successful.

“I had been working with Denise for almost ten years and we knew each other very well. Perfect timing, perfect market opportunity, perfect technology and perfect partner made Enspired Solutions happen.”

Perfect on many fronts, but would there be a market for the product? And equally important—would there be investors?

That question was answered in April of this year when Enspired Solutions received $1.25 million in seed funding, the first tranche of $2.5 million in funding from co-lead investors Worthington Industries, Red Cedar Ventures, and the Michigan Rise Pre-Seed III Fund. (Red Cedar Ventures and Michigan Rise Pre-Seed III Fund are affiliated companies of the Michigan State University Research Foundation).

The second tranche will be delivered when Enspired Solutions achieves three significant milestones: a field pilot that satisfies customer criteria, solidifying additional intellectual property and obtaining a customer purchase order. This approach to funding was suggested to Kay by Jennifer Baird, a mentor provided to her through MSU Research Foundation’s Spartan Innovations.

“The benefits include mitigating risk for the investors while allowing me to focus on execution rather than fundraising, which I learned through this process is a full-time job all by itself,” Kay said.

She explained that the funding also will enable Enspired Solutions to move through the “Valley of Death.”

“This funding will help us demonstrate customer success using our minimum viable product, which is the next trail marker for climbing the other side of the valley with rapid growth,” she said.

Wang said the funding means the company is now joining in the venture community, which is not only a way to secure working capital, but also to establish relationships and receive support for growing a successful startup. She said Enspired Solutions will use the funding to hire people, manufacture more PFASigators and rent a larger laboratory space.

PFASigator is the name of the company’s water treatment technology, which implements EPA-award-winning and patented chemistry to destroy the toxic per- and polyfluoralkyl substances in water and return them to nontoxic molecular components without the need for off-site disposal.

Among other industry efforts to destroy PFAS, most are adaptations of technologies designed to treat other recalcitrant waste, such as radioactive waste materials. And even though energy use is one of the primary cost drivers for PFAS destruction, the PFASigator gains efficiency by using a chemistry that specifically targets PFAS molecules.

Kay said it may be referred to as either “cleantech,” which generally considered are technologies associated with renewable energy, energy efficiency, water conservation and waste reduction, or “deep tech,” engineered technologies based on significant scientific and innovation advancement.

While they may be first-time entrepreneurs, Kay and Wang have demonstrated a knack for branding; the PFASigator logo features a friendly cartoon alligator munching on what one must assume are bits of PFAS, and Kay said the “En” in “Enspired Solutions” is a nod not only to their passion (“We are inspired to provide PFAS destruction technology”) but also to the environmental aspect of their focus.

Wang said the PFASigator offers better cost-performance balance than current PFAS capture-and-disposal technologies and has multiple competitive advantages over other emerging PFAS destruction technologies, including being fully automatic, modular, scalable and flexible; using readily available reagents, liquid pumps and UV lamps to forward the reductive defluorination reaction; and operating at atmospheric pressure and temperature, therefore requiring no special health and safety training to operate.

In addition, the PFASigator can be mobilized to the location of contamination rather than transporting the toxins and risking spills, and the patented chemical reaction can be tuned to adapt as regulated allowable PFAS concentrations continue to be developed at state and federal levels.

“The simplicity of the unit provides confidence that challenges like supply chain issues and elevated safety concerns will not likely slow down operations,” Wang said. “It is also differentiated from its competition by its low energy use, no toxic byproducts and small footprint—and it does not form PFAS from precursors in solution.”

The technology has been demonstrated to destroy more than 99% of total regulated PFAS in groundwater and landfill leachate samples. That difference sets their product apart in vital ways.

“The first major distinction from current approaches for remediating PFAS is that we are not just moving the problem around, capturing the PFAS and transporting it to another location, such as a landfill,” Kay said. “Enspired Solutions disassembles PFAS to nontoxic molecules, thereby truly reducing the global burden.”

Most people in the United States are believed to have measurable amounts of PFAS in their bodies because of the common use of PFAS chemicals.

According to the National Institutes of Health, epidemiological studies have revealed associations between exposure to specific PFAS and a variety of health effects, including altered immune and thyroid function, liver disease, lipid and insulin dysregulation, kidney disease, adverse reproductive and developmental outcomes, and cancer.

Kay and Wang are clearly pleased that they and their Enspired Solutions team are helping solve the worldwide PFAS issue and are making a positive impact in society. And they are proud that Enspired Solutions is a women-owned and women-led cleantech science firm.

Wang pointed out that while women-owned and women-led companies in the water industry are rare, and startups in the water industry also are rare, a women-owned and women-led startup in the water industry is rarer still.

“Along my career path, I am lucky enough that I have received tremendous support and opportunities from female leaders. I am very proud to be a female engineer and entrepreneur myself and I know how awesome our women leaders can be,” said Wang, who has also earned an MBA degree and is a licensed professional engineer in Michigan.

Kay said less than 2% of funding goes to startups with women founders.

“We are frequently underestimated due to gender stereotypes and turn that into an advantage by using it to sort out great network building opportunities from those that are limited by their stereotype blinders,” she said.

Enspired Solutions first intersected with the MSU Research Foundation when the company rented wet-chemistry lab space in the VanCamp Incubator. Kay said this rental choice opened a network of support systems that became fundamental to the success of Enspired Solutions, which is now one of the MSU Research Foundation’s portfolio companies.

“Early weekly meetings with Brad Fingland provided sage advice and linked us to other resources within and external to the Research Foundation. Red Cedar Ventures participated in our Friends & Family convertible note series at an early and critical time in our development. Ultimately, the Michigan Rise Pre-Seed III Fund co-led our Seed Series funding round, and Jeff Wesley is serving as a director on our board.”

Enspired Solutions plans to move to a 3,300-square-foot research and development and office space in the MSU Research Foundation’s Alliance building within the University Health Park. (Wang lives in Illinois, and Kay is in Michigan. Kay said a significant factor in their decision to locate their laboratory and headquarters in Michigan is that the state is one of the fastest moving in the nation in identifying and addressing PFAS contamination.) The increased space will accommodate additional research and development, along with increased staff.

Now that the focus is off fundraising, the company’s next step is the execution of the business plan, which includes multiple field pilot tests this year, refining their understanding of the best market fit, and laying the groundwork for rapid expansion.

“Our business goal has always been to become the global go-to supplier of PFAS destruction equipment and technology,” Kay said. “Our intrinsic drivers to accomplish this include establishing a women-owned and -led science technology company that can lift scientists and leaders in underrepresented groups while also contributing to sustaining clean global water resources.”