Who develops the chemistry, who measures it and who takes it to market, with credentials, institutional affiliations and public profiles.
Leadership and founders
The founding team combines green chemistry research, synthesis, process scale-up and commercial deep-tech experience.
Dr. Markus Hochegger
CEO & Co-Founder
PhD chemist and co-founder, responsible for exploitation, surfactant analysis and commercialisation at PureSurf.
- PhD in Chemistry
- 4 patents
- CDL Climate 2023 alumnus
- EIC T2M alumnus
Affiliation: PureSurf FlexCo, Graz · University of Graz (spin-off founder)
Prof. Katalin Barta Weissert
CSO & Co-Founder
Professor of green chemistry and scientific co-founder. She leads the Sustainable Catalysis unit at the University of Graz and owns the scientific content of the PureSurf knowledge library.
- Univ.-Prof. Dr.rer.nat.
- Professor of Chemistry, University of Graz
- 10 patents
- 90+ peer-reviewed publications
- EUR 15M+ research funding raised
Affiliation: University of Graz, Sustainable Catalysis unit (head) · Stratingh Institute for Chemistry, University of Groningen (former)
Stefan Schwaiger
Head of Synthesis & Co-Founder
Organic chemist, co-inventor of the PureSynth platform, responsible for IP and feedstock optimisation.
- MSc in Organic Chemistry
- Platform co-inventor
- 1 patent
- 100+ new structures
Affiliation: PureSurf FlexCo, Graz
Bálint Batha
Head of Scale-up & Co-Founder
Chemical engineer, responsible for scale-up, techno-economic assessment and technology transfer to contract manufacturers.
- MSc Chemical Engineering
- Surfactants scaled to kg level
- 4 industry internships
Affiliation: PureSurf FlexCo, Graz
Dirk Vandenhirtz
CBO
Serial deep-tech entrepreneur, responsible for commercial strategy, partnerships and financing.
- 27 years in deep-tech ventures
- EUR 120M+ raised
- 60+ patents
- 4 exits
Affiliation: PureSurf FlexCo, Graz
Science and development
Catalysis, synthesis and surfactant analysis. This group produces and verifies every figure published on this site.
Jacquin October, PhD
Homogeneous Catalysis & Surfactant Design
- PhD in Chemistry
Affiliation: PureSurf FlexCo, Graz
Susmita Bhowmik, PhD
Heterogeneous Catalysis
- PhD in Chemistry
Affiliation: PureSurf FlexCo, Graz
Markus Köck
Surfactant Analysis
Runs the analytical pipeline behind every published PureSurf figure: CMC, surface and interfacial tension, foam profile and the coordination of external OECD studies.
- CMC, surface and interfacial tension measurement
- Foam and wetting profiling
- OECD study coordination
Affiliation: PureSurf FlexCo, Graz
Lukas Nebel, MSc
Project Assistant, synthesis
Affiliation: PureSurf FlexCo, Graz
Theresa Schwaiger, MSc
Project Assistant, analysis
Affiliation: PureSurf FlexCo, Graz
Louay Al-Hussaini, PhD
Biomass conversion
- PhD in Chemistry
Affiliation: PureSurf FlexCo, Graz
Advisory board
External specialists for surfactant markets, toxicology, feedstocks and intellectual property.
Neil A. Burns
Advisor, surfactants & markets
Prof. Nermina Malanovic
Advisor, toxicology & disinfection
Affiliation: University of Graz
Prof. Martin Mittelbach
Advisor, bio-based chemistry
Affiliation: University of Graz
Prof. Johannes G. de Vries
Advisor, feedstocks & catalysis
Dr. Alexander Schwartz
Advisor, entrepreneurship
Mag. Werner Wutscher
Advisor, strategy
DI (FH) Michael Freidl
Advisor, industry
Dr. Christian Kugge
Advisor, raw materials
Dr. Gernot Faustmann
Advisor, IPR strategy
Credentials and funding
Publicly reviewed, independently measured, repeatedly awarded.
Horizon Europe
EIC Transition project, grant agreement 101058142
View the project recordEuropean Innovation Council
EIC Transition funded, EIC T2M programme alumnus
aws PreSeed
Austria Wirtschaftsservice PreSeed funding
SEPAWA Poster Prize 2025
Awarded at the SEPAWA Congress, the European detergents and cosmetics forum
SPG Ideenwettbewerb 2025
Winner in the Styrian innovation idea competition
Third-party CMC measurement
NEXOVANT F Pro CMC of 33 mg/L, measured by BASF SE against 73 mg/L for the C12-C14 amine oxide benchmark
