Munich Startup: What does your startup do? What problem are you solving?
Jana Söffken, co-founder PFASuiki: PFAS – often also called “forever chemicals” – are among the biggest environmental problems of our time. These substances are used in countless industries and everyday products: from outdoor jackets, pans and cosmetics to fire-fighting foams or semiconductor production. Their persistence makes them technically valuable, but ecologically highly problematic – PFAS accumulate in water, soil and organisms and are barely degradable.
With our technology, we achieve exactly what has been impossible so far: we destroy PFAS completely – directly in the water stream, without chemical additives or high temperatures. This gives us a real solution to a problem that is growing worldwide and will become even more of a focus in the coming years due to regulations.
Munich Startup: But that already exists!
Jana Söffken: To some extent, but previous methods like activated carbon, ion exchange resins or incineration don’t completely solve the problem. They remove PFAS from water, but only concentrate it or shift it to other locations. Incineration in particular is controversial: it consumes enormous amounts of energy, creates emissions and often doesn’t completely destroy PFAS.
We go a step further: our electrochemical process destroys the molecules on site – completely, energy-efficiently and without secondary waste. No transport, no residue, PFAS are truly eliminated.
PFASuiki: spin-off from Japanese technology conglomerate
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Jana Söffken: In early 2023, we started at TDK, a Japanese technology conglomerate, as an internal innovation project with the vision of developing a solution to the global PFAS problem. Two of us were already part of TDK at that time and worked on the project from the beginning, one of them as the idea originator. In February 2024, our third co-founder joined: a PFAS expert who had previously conducted research on this topic at TU München and brought valuable scientific expertise to the team.
In July 2025, the official spin-off as PFASuiki GmbH followed. Since then we have been an independent company with the agility of a startup, but still connected to TDK’s decades of materials and manufacturing expertise. This combination of corporate know-how and startup dynamism is our greatest success factor.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Jana Söffken: The biggest challenge was making the jump from the lab to practice. We tested our technology not only with synthetic samples, but especially with real water samples from industrial wastewater and landfill leachate, i.e. under real conditions. The next big step is setting up our first pilot plant directly at the customer to validate and scale the technology in continuous operation.
First pilot projects in the pipeline
Munich Startup: Where do you want to be in one year, where in five years?
Jana Söffken: Our first pilot plant is scheduled to go into operation in early 2026. Over the course of the year, we plan further pilot projects with industrial and public partners across Europe.
In five years, we want to be an established provider in the European market – with multiple locations and a scalable solution that is considered the standard for PFAS destruction. Our long-term goal: PFASuiki should become synonymous with sustainable and economical PFAS removal.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced the Munich startup location so far?
Jana Söffken: Munich is the ideal location for us: the proximity to our parent company TDK, to TU München and to the Garching Research Center gives us access to excellent experts, scientific exchange and strong networks in the field of cleantech and materials technology. Here research, industry and innovation come together – a perfect environment to further develop our technology and attract talent.
Munich Startup: Hidden champion or shooting star?
Maybe a little of both. We work on an invisible, but central issue: the elimination of one of the biggest environmental hazards of our time. If we succeed in permanently eliminating PFAS from water and the environment, we quietly but fundamentally change how we deal with pollutants.
Our goal is clear: we want to show with PFASuiki that high tech and sustainability go hand in hand and make the world a little bit better.
