Luper wants to clean the skies, one wastewater plant at a time
With nature as inspiration, this HighTechXL startup takes on Europe’s air pollution crisis.
Published on July 7, 2025
Luper testing material
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When Maarten Kieft, CEO of Luper Technologies, looks up at the sky, he sees more than blue. “Not everything is what it seems,” he said at HighTechXL’s XL Day. “Because 98% of all Europeans breathe toxic, polluted air.” That statistic is the driving force behind Luper’s bold mission: to clean the skies, starting with the worst offenders.
Luper’s initial target? Industrial air pollution, with a specific focus on wastewater treatment plants. “Air at these sites smells like shit,” Kieft said bluntly, “and water boards are struggling. Due to rising heat and droughts, these facilities are emitting more toxic chemicals, leading to ‘breakthrough emissions’ that violate environmental laws and cost millions.”
Luper’s solution is AirShield, an industrial air purification system that mimics the Earth’s own self-cleaning mechanisms, but at hyperspeed. “We take what happens in the atmosphere and put it in a box,” said Kieft. “What takes months in nature, takes seconds in our system.”
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At the heart of AirShield is the hydroxyl radical, a molecule Kieft described as “a billion times more effective than anything else out there.” This results in removal rates of over 99% and a 60% reduction in lifetime costs. “We’ve proven this in the field,” Kieft said. “In a demonstration at a customer site, we achieved 100% removal of sulfurous odors—our competitors reached only 80%.”
Growing market
The market is sizable and growing fast. Wastewater treatment alone represents a €2.6 billion opportunity across 700 plants in the Netherlands. Luper has already secured its first system sale, set to be installed in October 2025 at a pumping station that had to shut down due to toxic emissions. “We’re the only ones that can meet the regulatory bar,” said Kieft.
Backed by a strong team and experienced advisors, Luper is scaling up. After a successful pilot with the Delfland water board, their technology has now been selected as the preferred solution. A larger demonstration system is planned for 2026, with full market expansion slated for 2027.
Luper’s revenue model includes one-off system sales, recurring maintenance and replacement parts, as well as software services such as real-time emissions monitoring and energy optimization. “It’s not just hardware,” Kieft emphasized. “We help optimize performance and extend system life.”
Having secured €1.2 million of their €1.5 million pre-seed round, Luper is now seeking strategic investors to close the remaining € 300,000. “Ideally, someone with industry expertise to help us scale,” said Kieft. “We’re cleaning the skies from poison so all of us can breathe fresh air.”