Antenna Foundation

What Antenna Foundation does

Antenna Foundation is a Swiss non-profit foundation, established over 30 years ago and headquartered in Grand-Lancy (Geneva), dedicated to scientific research and the dissemination of low-tech, commons-based solutions for essential needs in underserved regions. The foundation operates field projects in approximately 10 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America — including Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Senegal, Kenya, Côte d'Ivoire, Nepal, and Colombia — with a primary focus on vulnerable populations lacking access to safe water, adequate nutrition, and basic sanitation.

The foundation's core technology is the WATA platform (with Nano-WATA and Mini-WATA variants), which produces sodium hypochlorite via solar-powered electrolysis of salt water, enabling communities to manufacture their own water disinfectant on-site at low marginal cost. Complementary initiatives include the Sun Factory Project for decentralized solar technologies and local artisanal production chains, the Community Hub (hub.antenna.ch) — a collaborative platform built entirely on free/libre software — and agroecological school garden programs such as the Green Schools Project in Nepal and ASDE in Burkina Faso. Technology is commercialized through a wholly-owned subsidiary, Watalux SA, while the foundation retains a non-profit operating model. The foundation employs 22 people, operates Maison Antenna as a collaborative third-place facility, and is supervised by the Swiss Federal Foundation Supervision Authority and audited by GAS Global Audit Services SA.

Antenna's revenue model is grant- and donation-based, with no commercial pricing structure for its own activities. Go-to-market is community-led: a contributor network operates through the Hub, partnerships are anchored by academic institutions (University of Geneva, University of Kinshasa) and government ministries (Ministry of Education of Burkina Faso), and field deployment is executed with local NGOs and community organizations. The foundation publishes annual reports since 2010 and contributes to the open-source commons under CC BY-SA 4.0, GNU GPL, CERN OHL, and ODbL licenses.

Name

Antenna Foundation

Legal name

Antenna Fondation

Website

https://antenna.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Antenna Foundation is a Swiss non-profit foundation that develops and disseminates low-tech solutions—primarily WATA solar-powered water disinfection devices and agroecological school programs—for vulnerable populations in Africa and Asia, operating through field projects, academic partnerships, and a contributor-driven community platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Humanitarian Water Treatment & Development Services

NAICS

Environmental Consulting Services (54162), Environmental Consulting Services (541620)

SIC

International Affairs (9721)

akta.pro primary industry

International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Environmental & Climate Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAM)

Keywords

• Water treatment technology
• Humanitarian foundation
• Low-tech solutions
• Open-source hardware
• Sustainable development projects

Headquarters

HQ city

Grand-Lancy

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation Operations: As a Swiss foundation established over 30 years ago, Antenna Foundation operates primarily through grants, donations, and possibly institutional funding. The foundation develops and disseminates technologies for essential needs without a commercial revenue model.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Antenna Foundation is a Swiss non-profit foundation that develops and disseminates low-technology solutions (notably WATA and Nano-WATA water disinfection devices) to address essential needs of vulnerable populations. The foundation conducts scientific research, manages field projects across Africa and Asia focused on water treatment, food security, and hygiene education, and operates a collaborative Hub platform together with the Maison Antenna third-place facility in Grand-Lancy, Geneva.

Product overview

Antenna Foundation operates as a Swiss foundation engaged in scientific research and technology diffusion for over 30 years, focused on implementing low-tech solutions and commons to address essential needs of vulnerable populations. The foundation's portfolio centers on WATA Technology (including Nano-WATA and Mini-WATA devices) for water treatment through sodium hypochlorite production by electrolysis, supported by solar power. This core technology is deployed through field projects including Nano-KIN in Kinshasa, Rano Madio in Madagascar, and school water programs in Burkina Faso. The foundation also operates Maison Antenna, a collaborative third-place facility in Grand-Lancy, and a Community Hub collaborative platform (hub.antenna.ch) for resource sharing and collective work. Complementary initiatives include the Sun Factory Project for solar technologies and artisanal supply chains, the Green Schools Project in Nepal, ASDE school nutrition programs, and participation in the ECOBOOSTER innovation challenge ecosystem. The foundation operates under a contribution economy framework with open-source licensing (CC-BY-SA 4.0 for content, GNU GPL for software).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• WATA Technology
• Nano-WATA
• Mini-WATA

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• University of Geneva (Unige)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Academic partnership for research and validation of WATA technology effectiveness. Professor John Poté from Unige co-leads the Nano-KIN project in Kinshasa, conducting water quality research and analysis.
• University of Kinshasa (Unikin)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Partnership with Professor Crispin Mulaji at the University of Kinshasa for Nano-KIN project implementation and local research capacity.
• Watalux SAcoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology company founded by Antenna Foundation to commercialize and scale the WATA water treatment technology. Antenna is the founder of Watalux SA.
• Environmental Camps for Conservation Awareness (ECCA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal partner in Nepal implementing the Green Schools Project with school gardens using agroecological approaches.
• Association Solidarité Ndem GenèveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociation supporting the village development project in Ndem, Senegal since 1993, collaborating on agroecology and local food systems initiatives.
• Ministry of Education Burkina FasocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment partnership for school-based water treatment and hygiene education programs, with impact validated by the Ministry of Health.
• ECOEBOOST EcosystemminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnership with ECOBOOST ecosystem for collaborative events and community activities, including co-hosting the Festijovial festival.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• SolAfrica: Swiss-based non-profit promoting solar energy access in Africa. Comparable Swiss origin, low-tech appropriate technology approach, and Africa-focused deployment model.

Direct peers

• Practical Action: International development NGO using technology to address poverty, with strong emphasis on appropriate/ low-tech solutions and renewable energy. Strongly comparable philosophy around technology choice for development contexts.
• charity: water: Non-profit funding clean water access projects in developing countries. Comparable mission around safe drinking water for underserved populations; charity: water operates at significantly larger fundraising scale with similar project-based deployment model.
• Water for People: Non-profit working to ensure lasting access to clean water and sanitation in developing countries. Directly comparable WASH mission with similar field deployment model in developing regions.
• SOS International (SODIS): Swiss-based organization promoting solar water disinfection (SODIS) as a household water treatment method. Closest comparable to Antenna in approach and Swiss origin, both using low-tech solar-powered water disinfection for developing regions.
• Engineers Without Borders (Ingénieurs Sans Frontières): Swiss-based NGO deploying appropriate technology for development. Comparable Swiss origin and focus on low-tech, locally-producible solutions for vulnerable populations across similar geographies.

Broad incumbents

• Water.org: Global non-profit addressing water access through market-driven financing solutions. Comparable water-access mission but uses microfinance-based approaches rather than direct technology deployment like Antenna's WATA.
• WaterAid: International NGO focused on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) access in developing countries. Comparable as a major institutional player addressing the same essential needs in overlapping geographies, though at vastly larger scale and with broader WASH mandate beyond water disinfection.
• BRAC: Large international development organization with multi-sector programs including water, sanitation, education, and livelihoods. Comparable integrated development approach with significant scale advantage.
• PATH: Global health innovation organization working on water, sanitation, and health in low-resource settings. Overlapping water-and-health mission with significantly larger institutional capacity and global reach.

Market position

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/antenna-foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Antenna Foundation