Our Story

On August 4, 2016, CyanoGuard AG was born. But the road to its birth had started before, although it was not always so linear. From an early age, the Founder Benedikt Kirchgaessler, had a particular interest in chemistry. However, he decided to do something that he believed to be more practical at the time and pursued a degree in Business and Finance. After working in investment banking for a few years, he decided to switch and started studying chemistry at the University of Zurich. That is where he met Prof. Dr. Felix Zelder.

Despite being a first-year student, Felix decided to take a chance on Benedikt and put him in a challenging, hands-on research project involving a novel cyanide sensing compound. Focusing on ending cyanide poisoning caused by the consumption of cassava plants, Benedikt first considered creating a social enterprise and working with an NGO in that field. This way, cassava eaters could test cyanide levels and avoid unintentional poisoning. He got the necessary funding to create new prototypes for his device by joining and winning a few competitions.

On one fateful day, however, he was contacted by a mine in Peru that was disappointed with the currently available technologies to measure cyanide accurately as none of them were able to measure their cyanide levels. They asked CyanoGuard to develop a technology to better monitor and optimize their cyanide consumption and, the rest they say, is history.