Finnish technology startup Collo announced that it has raised €5 million (USD$5.5 million), with proceeds aimed at supporting the global expansion of its liquid analysis solution to help manufacturers improve sustainability and efficiency.

Founded in 2017, Tampere, Finland-based Collo provides solutions aimed at enabling real-time measurement for optimizing industrial liquid for manufacturers, helping users better understand and develop their liquid processes, supporting cost savings in addition to reduced waste and lower emissions.

The company has created analyzers that use the electromagnetic field and the Internet of Things (IoT) to detect the chemical composition of any liquid, as well as changes in their physical properties, such as sedimentation or contamination, in real time. Among other uses, this enables food and beverage companies to better control and optimize their production flows. For example, the company said, a typical mid-sized dairy plant can lose up to 8 million liters of raw milk because of a lack of inline process control. Collo said its analyzer can significantly reduce these losses, while saving up to 11 million kilos of CO2 emissions and 35 million liters of clean water.

Collo said the sensor is compatible with any liquid in the plant, and its analytics and machine learning capabilities provide actionable insights for plant management. It can also help with in Clean-in-Place (CIP) process optimization, or fermentation process optimization, which is the basis for many products of Finland’s nature-smart food system known as Food 2.0.

Matti Järveläinen, Collo’s Co-founder and CEO, said:

“The global food and beverage industry is going through a significant transformation driven by climate change, rising demand for sustainable operations, and increasing environmental regulation. Major market leaders have established strategic priorities to cut emissions by half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. All savings are realised through process optimisation using existing infrastructure. Any processing company can implement Collo analysers to bring their plants to the IoT era and make their processes sustainable without a need for large investments in new production lines.”

The funding was led by SEB Greentech VC with Dutch deep technology investor Forward.one, in addition to participation from  existing investor, Danish Scale Capital.

Mikko Huumo, SEB Greentech VC Investment Manager, said:

“It’s more critical than ever for process plants to invest in technologies that help cut emissions and conserve water fast. Collo offers laboratory-level technology and precision in a cost-effective format, enabling any processing industry plant to achieve this. Major global industry players already trust Collo’s process optimisation solution. We are very excited to support the team in their next growth phase.”