Mimbly – the journey from early stage idea to successful start-up

Being part of a start-up is one hell of a ride. A process full of ups and downs that only rewards the extremely hard working. Groundbreaking innovations don’t appear out of thin air – in fact the majority of work is most often unknown to the wider public.

Success stories about start-ups often get simplified to a group of aspiring entrepreneurs with a grand dream and eventual overwhelming success. To do our cleantech rising stars justice, we need to shift this narrative.

After three years of collaboration we shine light on Mimbly’s key to success. What started as a student project is now changing the way we use water.

It started with a simple question

‘Do we really need drinking water to clean our clothes?’ – a group of students asked at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden in the wake of 2017. Triggered by the environmental repercussions of our dirty laundry, a mission was quickly born to create sustainable water solutions. Today, known as Mimbly.

Fast forward three years, Mimbly has since developed a solution that goes to the heart of the founders’ initial question. Their product, the Mimbox is a device that can be connected to a single or multiple washing machines and acts as the middleman for all water going in and out. It analyses the water, filters it and stores it safely.

A nifty system that allows to lower the water consumption of washing processes up to 90%, energy usage from 30% while effectively stopping microplastics. The best part? No compromise to the quality of the wash.

The process is the candy

Mimbly’s team started exploring entrepreneurship in EIT Climate-KIC’s pre-incubation programme Greenhouse in 2017. The team progressed into the world’s largest green business idea competition Climate Launchpad, and made it all the way to Cyprus to the Global Finals of the competition.

The ball has been rolling ever since. Mimbly was accepted to Stage I of the Nordic Accelerator in the same year, smoothly progressing into Stage II and III. The team is currently working in close collaboration with real estate developers to deploy their solutions in larger scale. Their pilot project will be rolled out in the course of next year in Southwest Sweden.

Our Nordic entrepreneurship team wasn’t the only one that saw the diamond in the rough back in 2017. Throughout the years, Mimbly has been engaging in a multitude of programmes and competitions that foster budding entrepreneurs. To mention but one, the team qualified into IKEA’s first accelerator programme that culminated in an intensive three month-long bootcamp in Sweden.

Numerous prestigious prizes and awards won speak to Mimbly’s potential and success. The most recent one, winning the SKAPA Prize founded in memory of Alfred Nobel with the aim to support inventors to develop their ideas. Another highlight this year was in spring when Mimbly won the Startup World Cup Europe.

In addition, Mimbly’s team members perform just as well as individual entrepreneurs –  Isabella Palmgren, CEO, was the runner up for EIT Women Awards in 2018.

Consistency is key

Mimbly was born out of an environmentally conscious question, i.e. whether or not we need drinking water to do our laundry. Today, the Mimbox is a reality, providing an alternative to unsustainable laundry habits. What once was a student project is now changing the way we use water.

Mimbly is an exemplary case, representing how important it may be for start-ups to be nurtured in the early stages. It seems that the key to success is often in the small moments when gritty changemakers consistently perform against all odds.

Mimbly’s trajectory and potential underline the importance of giving young changemakers diverse platforms to explore their potential. Who knows – they might go on to transform an entire industry for the better.