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Winners of the AAU Startup Grant 2022

Biomend

Biomend consists of Kristian Klougart Hansen, who studied Operations and Management Engineering at AAU and Nicolai Thomsen, who studied Environmental Planning at Roskilde University. Biomend is a clean-tech startup developing 5th generation wastewater treatment using vertical farming technology. Their technology can be implemented both nationally and internationally and contributes to a cleaner marine environment, the climate and the bio-industry.

Winners of the AAU Startup Grant 2022

Biomend

Biomend consists of Kristian Klougart Hansen, who studied Operations and Management Engineering at AAU and Nicolai Thomsen, who studied Environmental Planning at Roskilde University. Biomend is a clean-tech startup developing 5th generation wastewater treatment using vertical farming technology. Their technology can be implemented both nationally and internationally and contributes to a cleaner marine environment, the climate and the bio-industry.

The Co-founder team behind Biomend

  • Kristian Klougart Hansen

Master degree in Operations and Management Engineering at AAU
 

  • Nicolai Thomsen

Masters degree in Environmental Planning at Roskilde University

What challenge or problem are you trying to solve with your idea/startup?

"Biomend is a clean-tech startup which develops the 5th generation of wastewater treatment. By using vertical farming technology, Biomend enables a cleaner marine environment. This is done through increased wastewater treatment, which fixes nutrients, harmful substances and drug residues in plants. In addition, the plants are both an active CO2 store for the benefit of the climate and subsequently a valuable resource for the Bio industry. The technology can be implemented nationally as well as internationally”. Kristian Klougart Hansen, Co-Founder, Biomend

What does the AAU Startup Grant mean for your startup's development right now?

"The AAU Startup Grant is a very important contribution to Biomend's technology development and comes to us with really good timing. We have just completed a validation project and have achieved Technology Readiness Level 5 (TLR), an EU scale standard for technology maturity. The 250,000 from the AAU Startup Grant enables our next strategic step, which is a TLR 6 technology demonstration project”. Kristian Klougart Hansen, Co-Founder, Biomend

What made you apply to the AAU Startup Program/ seek out entrepreneurship as graduates?

"During our studies, my partner Nicolai Thomsen and I have both been driven by a deep interest in the environment, climate and the potential of vertical farming as a technology. In the summer of 2021, we were both newly graduated and participated in the AAU Startup Summer School. For two weeks we worked intensively on the business side of our idea and during the workshops our focus shifted from technical to commercial”. Kristian Klougart Hansen, co-founder, Biomend

We worked on a fund application during the summer course, where we took full advantage of the opportunity to get sparring from the AAU Student Entrepreneurship network, both during and after the summer course. This resulted in an InnoFounder grant for both of us, which made it possible to establish BioMend

Kristian Klougart Hansen