Plymouth University Spinout Launches Rapid Water-Testing Kit and Live-Map App

Molendotech, a spinout of the University of Plymouth, sells the handheld Bactiquick kit, which detects gram-negative bacteria such as E. coli, Pseudomonas, Legionella and Salmonella by measuring endotoxin released as bacteria break down. Results are delivered in under 15 minutes, compared with the 24- to 48-hour turnaround of conventional culture methods. The device pairs with a smartphone app that uses a traffic-light system to indicate risk levels against UK and EU water-quality thresholds. Launched in May 2025, the kit retails for £300, with each test strip costing about £25. Revenue rose from a few thousand pounds per month in mid-2025 to a peak of £94,000 in May, a near-30-fold increase over the previous year.

The Guardian

Molendotech has secured £1.4 million in grant funding from Innovate UK and other sources, and recently raised £860,000 from investors—including the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund, venture capital firm QantX and private backers—bringing total capital raised to £2.4 million. The company plans to launch a live water-quality mapping app in the UK and the United States in October, aggregating daily test results with rainfall and tidal data to generate AI-driven predictive models. Trials are underway with British water companies, local authorities and councils, and a distributor near the Great Lakes supports U.S. market entry. Additional expansion targets include New Zealand and Australia.

The Guardian

Surfers Against Sewage has logged 164 illness reports from beachgoers this year, ranging from gastroenteritis to ear and skin infections. Molendotech’s test flagged Saltdean beach in Sussex as “high risk” last July, contradicting the Environment Agency’s “excellent” rating for the same site. Founder Jackson, an inflammatory-diseases specialist, attributes such mismatches to the infrequency of standard testing—often only weekly—and the delay inherent in culture methods. He also notes that warming European waters are fostering Vibrio species, a concern echoed by recent health alerts in Louisiana about Vibrio vulnificus infections.

The Guardian

Molendotech positions its technology as a tool for companies, individuals and community groups to conduct frequent, on-site water testing, thereby enabling quicker responses to contamination events. By providing real-time data and predictive mapping, the company aims to complement existing monitoring regimes and address growing public-health worries linked to climate-driven bacterial proliferation. The upcoming app launch is expected to broaden user access to near-real-time water-quality information across both sides of the Atlantic.

The Guardian