Skype Founder Niklas Zennstrom Investor in Orbital Systems $19M Round B

Backed by founder of Skype and former Tesla executive, water-saving startup Orbital Systems raises $19M and launches a new shower in their quest to abolish water waste

• Initially inspired by a collaboration with NASA for space travel programs, Orbital Systems promises to curb water waste by up to 90% - saving consumers $1500/year
• Launched commercially only two years ago, the company has already helped saving over 2.5 million gallons of water

Previously labelled the "Tesla of showers", water-saving startup Orbital Systems has raised $19M from a group of investors, including Skype founder Niklas Zennström (investing in private capacity), Stena Ventures, Karl-Johan Persson, Nils Idoff and the af Jochnick family in their latest push to abolish water waste. The news coincides with the launch of their new NASA-inspired shower, which promises consumers to slash their water waste by up to 90%. By using a built-in purification system, the shower reuses the same batch of water over and over again, saving the average four-person household some $1500 annually.

Developers like Jim O'Connor, CEO of Trident Lakes (Tridentlakes.com), a luxury sustainable development in Texas commented "Orbital's technology is perfectly compatible with the mission of Trident Lakes to provide our customers water security and sustainability through innovative design because it reduces shower water waste by 90%. The Orbital System also offers a luxurious spa-like shower experience. The combination of security and luxury is what our customers expect from us at Trident Lakes."

Inspired by the challenges faced by space-traveling astronauts, the technology used by Orbital Systems was initially developed during a collaboration between the founder and CEO, Mehrdad Mahdjoubi, and NASA. The company boasts having helped saving 2.5 million gallons of water since launching commercially in 2015 with the new shower, called OAS, using only two gallons of water per shower. By comparison, conventional showers waste up to two gallons of water per minute, turning a 10-minute shower into a monumental loss of some 20 gallons of water.

Mehrdad Mahdjoubi, founder and CEO of Orbital Systems said: "There's little point in wasting 20 gallons of water during a single shower when, instead, you can use just two. We developed some great technology for the NASA projects, but what the past two years have shown us is that the technology works just as well here as it does in space. For our next growth phase we'll focus on getting Orbital showers into every home that wants to save money on both water and energy."

The news comes only a few weeks after President Trump reversed course on Obama's climate and water policies, delivering a major setback for environmentalists, who labelled the move as "dangerous" and "embarrassing". At the same time, the world's water resources are facing rising pressure, with OECD estimating that a whopping 40% of the world's domestic water usage relates to showering.

"They're staggering numbers, and it seems insane that we've developed this tech for space travel without using the same efficiencies here on Earth", says Mahdjoubi.

Apart from Mahdjoubi, Orbital Systems' board members include tech veterans Niklas Zennström, founder of Skype and Europe's largest VC firm Atomico, as well as Peter Carlson, a former executive at Tesla. The company has previously raised some $12M in funding, bringing the total raised amount to $31M.

Orbital System's latest shower OAS is now available on https://www.orbital-systems.com, with prices starting at $3,000.

Orbital Systems is a Swedish water technology company, creating a new paradigm in daily water use. Their newest product is the Oas Shower, a closed-loop, water and energy saving shower. The Oas analyses, filters, purifies and recirculates shower water in real-time, while tracking usage and savings data via the Oas app. This unique Space Certified Technology was developed by Mehrdad Mahdjoubi, CEO & Founder of Orbital Systems, after his involvement in a Mars Mission project between NASA"s Johnson Space Center and Lund University. Learn how much water and energy the Oas shower can save your project at www.orbital-systems.com/savings