EIT RawMaterials supported start-up CyanoGuard successfully closes the seed round

Today, on 14 April 2020, the Swiss ChemTech start-up CyanoGuard announces the successful closing of its seed round led by Wingman Ventures with the participation of BlueOcean Ventures, and the award of a non-dilutive EIC Accelerator, SME Instrument grant by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme.

Established in 2016, CyanoGuard has since developed and commercialized its next-generation cyanide monitoring solutions applicable to gold mining operations, food safety testing and in healthcare. In the past years, Co-Founders Benedikt Kirchgässler (CEO) and Mathias Cherbuin (CTO) have brought an innovative chemical technology for rapid toxin detection from the labs of the University of Zurich and developed it into a comprehensive digital solution package which finds its first commercial application in the gold mining industry.

These funds enable us to scale our ground-breaking monitoring solutions and roll them out to gold mines around the world. I am excited about the positive impact that our digital, AI-based technology has on the global gold mining industry as well as the local communities and the environment. I believe that we will benefit from both the experience of leading venture funds, Wingman and BlueOcean, as well as the support of the European Union to speed up market penetration and develop further applications for our technology.

Benedikt Kirchgässler, Co-founder and CEO at CyanoGuard

With the newly raised capital from this seed round, CyanoGuard plans to accelerate its go-to-market strategy in the global mining industry.

With its current offering, CyanoGuard has a unique value proposition for its mining clients that is beyond improved cyanide testing. This encompasses efficiency-enhancing digitization of process control and more sustainable usage of cyanide in mining operations. We are convinced that Benedikt, Mathias and their team will drive CyanoGuard to become a globally leading provider of digital mining solutions.

Alex Stöckl, Founding Partner at Wingman Ventures, who has joined CyanoGuard’s Board of Directors in the context of the round

The freshly obtained funds are also intended to further expedite the development of CyanoGuard’s product offering for food safety and healthcare applications. This is also one of the reasons Geneva-based MedTech and life sciences venture firm BlueOcean Ventures has joined the financing round.

The opportunity to apply CyanoGuard’s unique and already validated technology to the medical field, be it in blood, urine or breath testing for cyanide detection, will be a huge game-changer for healthcare professionals around the world in the treatment of smoke inhalation victims.

Sacha Haymoz, General Partner at BlueOcean Ventures

CyanoGuard is a part of the EIT RawMaterials Community since it has been selected by Innovation Hub Central in 2018 among the best innovative start-ups that receive funding and coaching as a part of our RM Accelerator programme. They have successfully completed Phase 1 and 2 and are engaged in Phase 3 to exploit and better commercialise their innovative solution. EIT RawMaterials team connected CyanoGuard with potential clients and investors on the European and global levels (South America, Canada, South Africa).

We have recognised the high potential of this innovative company combining chemistry and digital for Cyanide monitoring on gold mining facilities, and the EIT RawMaterials Accelerator programme was perfectly adapted to speed up the development from the lab scale prototype to sales of a mature product.

Didier Zimmermann, EIT RawMaterials Innovation Hub Director CLC Central