Ignite Stories: Mimbly

Mimbly focuses on creating solutions to make laundry more sustainable. They have developed the Mimbox, an add-on product for reusing water in washing machines.

The Gothenburg-based incubator Chalmers Ventures played a crucial role in their development, supporting the company during its early stages to transform their disruptive idea into a viable business.

“Mimbly was born at Chalmers Ventures’ incubator program. We started out there with basically an idea of being able to reuse water in washing machines. Chalmers Ventures helped us to create a company around that idea. We also got our initial funding from them,” says Emil Vestman, Product Development Manager and co-founder.

“We worked with Mimbly from the start and supported them with coaching in the product development process, but we also invested in them at that earliest stage where most private investors deem it too early and too risky to enter,” explains Charlotte Emlind Vahul, Head of Business Coaching at Chalmers Ventures. “Our support provided the initial spark that helped the company take those critical first steps on their journey towards creating and launching their product.”

First Customer Through Ignite

As the product development process continued, Mimbly reached a critical point where they had proof of concept. It was at this point that they connected with Ignite Sweden, an initiative that connects startups with established companies and public sector organizations.

Through Ignite Sweden, Mimbly was introduced to Coor at a matchmaking event that took place in Borås in 2018 during SISP’s annual conference, Sveriges Innovationsriksdag. The facility management company became a significant partner in Mimbly’s journey towards launching their product.

Their collaboration didn’t begin until a year later when Mimbly was awarded the 2019 Kommersialiseringspriset (Commercialization prize) by the Swedish Energy Agency, InnoEnergy and Ignite Sweden. This prize, awarded at the Power Circle Summit, allowed them to begin a one year pilot project in June 2019 at Coor’s head office in Kista.

Since then, their collaboration has flourished and led to the signing of a frame agreement last year to install their product, the Mimbox, across Coor’s sites in the Nordics.

Startup Success Through Innovation Ecosystem

Emil recognizes that he wouldn’t have thought they would be where they are today, not even in his “wildest dreams”.

“I jumped into this with just an idea, not really knowing what it was going to become. Mimbly has grown, and we, the people working at the company, have grown with it. Now we can actually see what we have accomplished,” says Emil.

Mimbly’s story is a great example of what can be achieved when startups receive support from various actors within the Swedish innovation ecosystem.

“There’s a saying: ‘it really takes a village to raise a child’, but it takes a whole innovation ecosystem to support and raise a startup to create commercial success,” concludes Charlotte.

Watch the video on Mimbly’s journey