Dow Chemical has agreed to fund Irish start-up OxyMem, a spin-off of University College of Dublin (UCD) with a pledge said to be worth millions of euros.

The fledgling company founded in 2013 by UCD chemists Eoin Syron and Eoin Casey has developed wastewater treatment technology claimed to cut the energy required for wastewater treatment by 75%.

According to the London newspaper Sunday Times, Dow is funding the business with loans that can be converted to equity in future.

OxyMem, which operates from Athlone, Co Westmeath, and has an office in the US, is said to have raised €2.5 million from private investors and Enterprise Ireland.

The company was among the 12 finalists in the Harvard Business School accelerator for topics relating to infrastructure management. Around 100 companies working in the field of efficiencies in water supplies across 20 different countries applied to the platform.