Stockholm Water Technology is addressing the growing global challenge of water scarcity by enabling efficient, chemical-lean purification and reuse of water across industrial, municipal, and commercial applications. Here, co-founder and CEO Karthik Laxman Kunjali talks about his personal journey.
Growing up in southern India, Karthik Laxman Kunjali, like many others, experienced water scarcity. “We used to get water once every two or three days,” he says. “So it was common for every household to have tanks to store the water and keep the house running.”
At the time, it felt normal. Only later, after moving to Europe and seeing clean drinking water run freely from the tap each day, did he realise how significant that difference was. That contrast became the earliest spark for a question that stayed with him: why reliable water should be a given in some countries but a challenge in others. Years later, it would become the foundation of Stockholm Water Technology (SWT). Before that moment, his life was shaped by two forces: sport and family.
Lessons from his father on how to respond to setbacks
Sport was central throughout Karthik’s youth. “I used to compete at state level track events, and I used to play football for my club,” he says. “It was always about trying to achieve, even if something looks very difficult.”
That discipline built the mindset he still relies on.
When asked about his parents, he smiles and says he did not grow up in a business family. “My mother was a nuclear physicist, working for a research firm in India. My father is a steel guy, who built steel plants all over the world,” he explains. But what he was most inspired by growing up was a way of responding to setbacks. “I learnt from my father that bad things will happen. However, that should never change what you believe in. Not everything is bad, it is just the circumstances of the moment.”
This became central to how he later navigated failure, pressure and leadership.
A setback opened the door to water technology
Karthik began his career in defence avionics, working in partnership with Hindustan Aeronautics (sole supplier to the Indian Air Force) after completing an engineering degree in power electronics. He later moved into solar energy, where he (along with his advisor) patented an idea and attempted to commercialise it, but did not succeed.
At the time, it felt like a setback. However, looking back now, he frames it differently. A key learning that came out of that experience was that “Failure is not really a failure; it is just probably a realignment.”
That realignment opened the door to water technology. He had always wanted to create environmental and societal impact, and working with water offered a clear way to do that.
A product-market fit from an unexpected place
When he entered the water sector, he saw a fundamental issue. “The treatment technologies that we have today are very chemical-oriented… which is not a good thing.” Prof. Joydeep Dutta, co-founder of SWT, had already identified the challenges associated with chemical-intensive water treatment and developed the electro-capacitive technology that powers SWT, prior to Karthik joining him on the journey.
SWT’s patented CAP3D solution operates without chemicals or membranes. It uses electricity to remove charged contaminants and can handle water de-hardening, heavy metal removal, nutrient reduction and micropollutant treatment in a single system.
Their first complete product-market fit came from an unexpected place. “It came in an industry that we were not looking into. It was fish farms,” he says. “In this case, we were addressing 100 percent of the problem.”
For the first time, customers were not comparing SWT to other solutions. They simply needed what SWT offered.
and can tailor output water through built-in software. Image right: SWT
When leadership earns loyalty
Leadership has been a learning curve for Karthik. “I worked in team lead positions, but the CEO position is very different,” he shares. “How to communicate information, how to ensure there is transparency… that has been a challenge for me.”
One of the most important turning points came in 2022. “I was not the CEO at that point,” he explains. It was a period marked by poor communication and misalignment which led four of the seven key team members to leave. “We did not know how to manage then.”
But when management changed, and he returned as CEO, something striking happened.
“They all came back as consultants to work with me to deliver on the projects. They worked weekends and holidays, just so that they could help me out. We would not have made it through had they not put in that extra effort.”
That story reveals how the strong relationships he had built gave him the team’s trust and support needed to lead the company.
Karthik believes that once the right people are in place, they are largely self-driven. “All you have to do is just give them the right boundaries to work within.”
InnoEnergy support: “Industry interest changed the game for us”
Partnerships played a major role in SWT’s development. Several of their largest customers came through the InnoEnergy ecosystem. “We are working with Veolia… that came through InnoEnergy,” he says. “When Veolia started exploring our technology, that changed the game for us.”
InnoEnergy’s involvement started even before the company was formally established. “They came onboard even before it was a company in 2017. They have seen us develop from when the device was the size of a palm to container-sized devices.”
Agreement with DRC ChemTec as a tick mark for SWT’s scaling potential
A recent key milestone was the strategic agreement with Saudi-based DRC-ChemTec to deploy SWT’s chemical- and membrane-free water purification technology in Saudi Arabia.
The deal involves supplying 1,750 systems over four years to treat approximately 3.5 million litres of water daily, aiming to improve access to clean drinking water and wastewater for agricultural use. “The first offtake agreement with our Saudi partner was the first tick mark saying that we can scale on a global level,” he says.
Since then, they have been in discussions with companies from Chile, Japan, Korea, and India, which look very promising.
Drawing inspiration from his son
In his private life, he balances fatherhood with business. While he wishes he had started his company prior to starting a family, he also draws inspiration from his son. “He is seven and has communication challenges,” he says. “He does not speak very well, but he can tell you everything by his actions and through his eyes.”
What his son teaches him is simple. “Anything can be done when you find a way to do it. He is always an inspiration.”
A future shaped by sustainability and ambition
Looking ahead, Karthik has a clear ambition for SWT. “In ten years, hopefully we will be a brand that people recognise… we want to be synonymous with sustainability and growth,” he says.
Asked for advice he would give his younger self, he adds a quote attributed to Erwin Schrödinger, which is a principle he wants to adopt.
The quote says, “The task is not so much to see what no one has yet seen, but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.”
