BIV Monthly Update XLIV
BIV Monthly Update – June 10, 2024
“Get in! Get in!” Irv Blitzer, Cool Runnings
Highlights
A huge pleasure to complete our investment in Subeca. Patrick, Anne, Renee and all the team are doing an exceptional job, and we’re so glad to be on board. More on the rationale for the investment to follow.
Also wonderful to be putting our shoulder to the wheel for TeamSolve. Mudasser, Ami, Michael, and Robin are bringing considerable expertise to bear in creating this vital solution. Again, more to follow (it’s been a month).
Very kind of the folks at Fast Company to name us a World Changing Idea finalist. We certainly think we could be, but there is of course more work to do.
Steve and I mounted a well-dressed assault (in Steve’s case well-, in my case acceptably-) on the European Family Office market in Montreux, Switzerland two weeks ago. 36 meetings in two days was a fascinating experience, and we were encouraged by the reception.
Delighted to moderate an excellent conversation with the NYCDEP and Floodbase at Adapt Unbound - the first adaptation and resilience tech conference we have been to. It won’t be the last.
The team is working extremely well on a number of fronts, including closing our fifth deal in Fund II, and getting the first three deals for the Opportunity Fund on the slate. The quality of the pipeline is genuinely remarkable, and makes our lives very tricky indeed.
June Asks
Three new episodes from The Fundamental Molecule with Reinhard Hübner - Acquisition, Connection and Contrarianism, Steve Kloos - Thinking Right to Left and Nicole Neeman Brady - Intrapreneurship, Entrepreneurship and Public Service.
Subscribe to the BIV Youtube channel and check out What does the water sector look like in 2024 (a 20 min snippet from our AGM) and Solving an £18B+ annual problem with smart tape - a BIV Session with LAIIER.
Sign up here to attend forthcoming BIV Sessions.
Point the smartest people you know to the BIV Jobs Board or talent network.
BIV Portfolio Updates
Fund I
Aclarity – First Octa unit live, and their trailer live in the Southwest. Data is strong. Julie also rocked a panel on PFAS Remediation at RBC’s Future of Water Conference.
Aquafortus – $700k left in their $4m round, the team continues to impress, and the post-round future is challenging but bright.
Beagle Services - Considering several options to scale as a company and a team. 2024 revenue could exceed $10m with the right funding in place.
CivilGrid – Won the Nextera Seed Competition, building toward Florida expansion. Growth in organic revenue shows CS motion is bearing fruit.
Daupler – First Daupler Connect event! Big push in marketing. Nailing their story for the raise, a ton of inbound interest.
Floodbase – Attended Risk World San Diego. Building well.
Irrigreen – Spring season accelerating irrigation system sales, tracking 40% ahead of budgeted revenue. Marching towards the raise, and the story is so strong.
LAIIER – Building momentum around the raise, as well as some fascinating commercial progress.
NLine Energy – Excellent progress on project finance and manufacturing. New COO Waylon has made a fast start. Should exceed 2023 revenues in H1.
SewerAI – Strong progress across the board.
Shower Stream – 250-Unit production run ahead of schedule. Presented at the ACEEE Hot Water Forum 2024. Learning a ton in BREW 2.0.
Spout – Excellent news from their fundraising process, with major commitments from their first customers (it’s awesome). First manufacturing run initiated, a major milestone.
SwiftComply – Attended Florida Industrial Pretreatment Association’s Spring event, as they focus in on the market. Some great stuff on the table.
Ziptility – Was at the Maryland Rural Water Association's Annual Conference. Also held their second Ziptilicon (!) customer event in Muncie, Indiana. We need a Ziptilicon t-shirt.
ZwitterCo – Participated at IFAT Munich 2024. The last board meeting was exceptional.
2S Water – 50% of their $500k raise committed by us, and shaping up to be competitive.
Fund II
Unannounced Water Heater Company - Ahead of schedule. Seed II brought forward in light of progress. Launching in September.
HOPE Hydration - Continuing to sell to big names at a rapid pace. Running nicely within the AEG/Goldenvoice footprint. Content website is up and running. Provided hydration for F1 Miami Grand Prix. Wildly cool.
TeamSolve - Interesting conversations in progress with a major APAC government, to cover all their national utilities. Closing in on their first commercial deal.
Subeca - Strong launch, and the pipeline has about 200% adjusted coverage for the end of the year. Already interesting adjacent conversations for the BLINC module.
Work with the Burnt Islanders
All open roles with the Burnt Islanders are advertised through the BIV Jobs Board which is accessible here
Company Pipeline
Overall Pipeline: 1178 (+85)
No shortage of interesting targets across infrastructure tech, decarbonization, desalination, and treatment. As ever, the bar is high and our sights are firmly set on solutions with wide competitive moats in markets with huge potential. Fortunately for us, there are several great opportunities to run down in the near term. It’s a good time to be in the market.
Team
Kudos to all the Islanders this month, just a great full court press in a peak time of the year. My thanks to all of them.
Ok fine it’s technically a June announcement but a massive welcome to Jyotika Chandhoke who will be with us for the summer. It’s only been a week, and she’s hit the ground running.
BIV Insight/Visibility
An excellent session with Matt Johnson, Co-Founder and CEO at LAIIER. The company they’re building is something exceptional, that has the potential to transform and solve a range of seriously difficult and expensive problems for their customers. Recording available here.
Water is Hard (Hard-to-Abate, that is) makes a very strong case for the inclusion of water in the climate mitigation/carbon abatement story. It’s colossally stupid that it is this overlooked by the billions in climate capital.
Thrilled to be included among an impressive group as a finalist in Fast Company's 2024 World Changing Ideas list for Impact Investing. Read more here.
Very kind indeed of Silas Mähner and Somil Aggarwal (the inimitable CleanTechies) to have Tom Ferguson on their latest episode. Tune in here.
Thanks to Brooke Navarro and the team at FMI for including us in What’s Coming in the Next Five Years for Water Infrastructure Investing.
Thanks to the team at ImpactAlpha for including us in their latest Liist and why water shouldn't be a $900 billion afterthought.
Steve joined (virtually) Chicago Water Week, Tom at RBC and Adapt Unbound, Christine at SWAN, Tom and Steve meeting with an impressive group of family offices in Montreux, Switzerland. I hate to say it but June will be even more insane.
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We’re Reading/Listening/Watching
Things to Work On
I must be braver. With the burgeoning progress of Fund I, and the quality of initial companies in Fund II, interest is mounting, and the evidence supporting our thesis and position in the market is clearer and clearer.
Similarly, initiating a process for the Opportunity Fund. We have three exceptional deals on the slate.
