Tunisian start-up Kumulus plots Gulf expansion with machines that create water from air

Creating water from the air may sound futuristic or fictional, but that is what Tunisian entrepreneur Iheb Triki does. Mr Triki, chief executive and co-founder of Kumulus Water, felt the water sector was “largely disregarded”, despite the resource being vital for survival, after working in private equity and investing in start-ups focused on renewable energy, water and waste. He was keen on the concept of decentralised water production, and watching the formation of morning dew in stark conditions on a trip to the Tunisian desert inspired him to bring his vision to life. “During that trip in the desert, this is where I saw that there is humidity even in the deep desert, and you can create water with the dew phenomenon,” he says. An engineering graduate, Mr Triki was confident that his idea was feasible and convinced co-founder Mohamed Ali Abid to join him to set up Kumulus in 2021. The start-up raised more than $500,000 a year and a half later, helping them build their machinery and certify it. “Then we raised about $2.5 million later on to be able to commercialise this machine,” he explains. About 100 of the company's Amphore machines are now deployed, producing around 3,000 litres of water per day, which approximately 2,000 people drink daily. Worldwide, millions of urban residents are facing the impact of water scarcity and contamination. Unicef estimates that figure will exceed 2.3 billion by 2050. By 2030, 50 per cent of the global population will live in water-stressed regions, it said last year. Roughly half of the world’s population experiences severe water scarcity for at least part of the year, the United Nations World Water Development Report 2024 found. One quarter of the world’s population face “extremely high” levels of water stress, using more than 80 per cent of their annual renewable freshwater supply. “None of the Sustainable Development Goal 6 targets appear to be on track,” the report warned, referring to the target of ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030. It is estimated that achieving universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation will cost about $114 billion per year until 2030, according to the World Bank. Mr Triki says water scarcity is not just a social problem, but a “human problem” that Kumulus is trying to address. “It's not only social in terms of the poor versus the rich, it's really everyone who will be struggling to find water at the end,” he says. “But then my business side and my private equity career forced me to seek beyond the social and human aspect, the financial profitability. And this is why, when we designed the machine from day one, financial profitability was super important. It is important for the customers and it is important for my shareholders when I raise money.” The company has raised approximately $4 million cumulatively so far, with “a lot of the help or incentives coming from the French government, not for the social aspects, but for the IP aspect, intellectual property research”. This year, Kumulus is preparing for an “important fundraise” and plans to use the resulting amount to expand in Spain, France, Tunisia, Morocco and the Gulf region. It launched in Saudi Arabia in January and is in discussions with companies in the kingdom amid strong interest. Globally, it has more than 50 clients, including large companies that provide machines to schools in villages as part of their corporate social responsibility programmes. Other customers include factories, offices, hotels and places where water is scarce and they only use plastic bottles for drinking water. “We go to them and we tell them, we would provide you with autonomy in terms of drinking water. You don't need to use plastic any more. So, it's better for the environment, and super important, it's cheaper,” Mr Triki says. Kumulus sells the machine for $5,900 and then charges about $2,000 to $3,000 per annum for maintenance. The company also offers leasing or rental to clients. “During my years in private equity, I came to the conclusion that just thinking that people will do good by themselves, it's not going to work, it's not going to be scalable … and to convince the majority of people [to] change their behaviour, they need to have a financial incentive,” Mr Triki says. “In our case, we are cheaper than bottled water to convince people that, yes, they would be better for the environment, but most of all, that they would make money out of it.” The company, which is currently reinvesting heavily in its business, aims to break even in 2026. Looking ahead, technology will improve to address all the elements of water scarcity, as well as pollution, reducing plastic usage and creating autonomy in terms of water, he says. With six times more water in the air than in all the world's rivers and the sun, “imagine a world where the technology allows you to create water from sun and air. Isn't it abundant? … The only thing that we need to work on is engineering to make this cheaper”, Mr Triki says. In the next five years, he expects to see bigger machines, as well as machines to generate not just drinking water but meet all general water needs. “So, our next phase for the next five years for Kumulus is a container that you can plug to your house or to your factory, and you don't need anything anymore. You have energy. You have water. And then PV panels with energy, and then you create food as well.” Kumulus has expanded from two people to 22 employees across Tunisia, Spain and France. It has also appointed a general manager for Saudi Arabia. “For me, in 10 years, Kumulus will become the water utility of the future, with high tech that allows any institution, factory, offices, homes, to have the full independence when it comes to drinking water. We call it going from water scarcity to water abundance,” Mr Triki says. Who is your role model? I like [Apple co-founder] Steve Jobs. He had drive, he was a dreamer and he was able to achieve beauty and high tech at the same time. What are some of the key things that you learnt while setting up this company? Resilience is super important. You need to create your own protection and you need to take care of yourself and your family, because this experience is a marathon, it's a long run. Also, every problem has a solution. It shouldn't impact you personally. Anything that you would do differently if you could start over? Definitely, we can do things much, much better if we start over, because we've made a lot of mistakes: some countries and some recruitment, some regions we went to. We would have done things differently because of the experience, I think. Also, more focus. That's advice that everyone says, but a very low number of entrepreneurs do. Focus more and don't stretch yourself thin. Any key advice that you would give to other entrepreneurs? Make sure that you take care of yourself: doing sports, reading, and make sure that you have a backbone of family and friends. Second thing: focus on what you're doing. Looking too much at the competition or at the others doesn't help you. What kills you is internally more than externally. And third: resilience, it's all about resilience.

Tunisian start-up Kumulus plots Gulf expansion with machines that create water from air

Generation start-up: Company entered Saudi Arabia this year and is preparing for a major fundraise