BIV Monthly Update LI

Written By Tom Ferguson

BIV Monthly Update LI – 1/9/24


“It means “Know Thyself”.” The Oracle, The Matrix 

Highlights

  • Reflecting on a big 2024. It wasn’t always sunlight and rainbows, but in the end we completed 9 deals, worked together exceptionally well as a team, supported a portfolio of 26 companies, helped raise tens of millions for next-generation water solutions… it’s not bad this job.

  • Getting NLine and HOPE’s big year-end news. Blimey. Props to all of their respective teams.

  • Our 7th Fund II investment. They’re in a great position around flood monitoring & response, and it’s a big year ahead. Two more to follow imminently, including working with a stone cold legend of the water sector. They’re from the UK, but I think they’re Leicester fans. Can’t have everything.

  • Confirming our third Opportunity Fund investment. They are entering a very interesting stage indeed. It’s one of those companies where you really wouldn’t like to compete against them.

  • A big end to the year - Christmas in Scotland, New Year in London, 40th birthday in Paris AND London. So many thanks to Ruki and Kiyan for making the big 4-0 special.

January Asks

BIV Portfolio Updates

Seed I

  • 2S Water – Great show at the Direct Lithium Extraction Exhibition and Conference. Finishing touches being put on the data room.

  • Aclarity – Nice episode on the Green New Perspective podcast. Good technical work completed through the holidays.

  • Aquafortus – Strong presentation at the New Mexico Produced Water Research Consortium’s Annual Meeting. Term sheet imminent, commercial interest strong.

  • Beagle Services – Average home insurance premiums spiked by 13%, adjusted for inflation, between 2020 and 2023. Beagle has a lot of room to run here and they’re sprinting.

  • CivilGrid – Onboarded their first customer success manager - a strong addition to the team.

  • Daupler – Impressive end of year results. Major account to close in January. Team strong and becoming stronger. An ambitious 2025 ahead.

  • Floodbase – Joined The White House Flood Technology Innovation Roundtable with Tom. Excellent case study on Floodbase’s support for FEMA throughout this hurricane season.

  • Irrigreen – Showed Tom a video of their AI-design capability on their website that exhibited an actual laugh out loud. Amazing progress. Round imminent.

  • LAIIER – Impressive stats from year: detected more than 2 genuine liquid leaks every day and Spent over 2,000 hours helping customers to better understand their liquid leak detection requirements.

  • NLine Energy – An eye-popping end to the year. Great installation of their 1 MW Waterman Hydroelectric Station in San Bernardino. Check out these pics.

  • SewerAI – Very strong final sprint from the team, and in great shape for Q1. Happy investors. 

  • Shower Stream – 128 showerheads installed. Strong progress on rounding out the SAFE.

  • Spout – Final prep for their first run, commencing Jan 16th. 1,000 customers will have units by March. Good stuff. 

  • SwiftComply –Closed out the year nicely.

  • Ziptility – Agreement in place to transform the business. Sales metronome keeps ticking. Welcome Lucy to the Ziptility family! Baby, not employee.

  • ZwitterCo – Staffing up well, in all the right places. Performance data continues to sing.

Seed II

  • Aquatic Labs – Huge props to Allan on entrepreneurial process this month. Strong progress on the eDNA Puffer strategy.

  • Cala Systems – Nice Founder Spotlight piece from Climate Capital. Check it out here. Adding 50 pre-orders per day, crossing the 2,000 mark.

  • HOPE Hydration – Let’s just say that the forthcoming Series A is anyone’s guess. Extraordinary work from Jorge and the team.

  • Subeca – Anne has made a fast start. Very well done.

  • TeamSolve – Ami Preis featured in the latest SWAN Member Spotlight by SWAN. Converted a $10k pilot to $250k ARR contract, with more to come.

  • Unannounced flood monitoring company – Prepping for US market entry, momentum in UK is exceptional.

OF I

  • Aqua Membranes – Insane results from their deployment with Micron Technology - 30% energy savings and 4x longer cleaning interval. Check out the case study here.

  • Daupler – Impressive end of year results. Team strong and becoming stronger. An ambitious 2025 ahead.

  • Irrigreen – Showed Tom a video of their AI-design capability on their website that exhibited an actual laugh out loud. Amazing progress. Round imminent.

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: 1456 (+34)

  • Our eyes are peeled this month for solutions in overlooked spaces - the ‘hard stuff’ where grit and experience go a long way. We have met with a handful of impressive founders already this year who fit the bill, and see plenty more on the horizon.

  • 2024 was a tough year for stormwater and flood resilience globally and we are glad to see early stage companies stepping up to the plate to solve problems in this sector. Many more are needed.

Team

  • Welcome Kristen Tugwell as the team’s new EA. A Marylander, she’s a previous startup founder, and has worked for an array of amazing people. Welcome to the Burnt Island!

BIV Insight/Visibility

  • Our first blog of the year, in which we malign predictions, and then make some. 

  • Tom was (perhaps too) delighted to attend the White House FloodTech Innovation Roundtable in the EEOB. A fascinating discussion with leaders from across the country, discussing practical responses and paths forwards for the growing flood problem in the US. 

  • Delighted to be on a panel at Responsible Investor’s Annual Summit in NYC.

  • Great event in NY with Superorganism, Wild Assets and Holocene for “Investors for Climate” (an amazing advocacy group).

  • If you'd like to hear more about upcoming BIV events, please register here.

We’re Reading/Listening/Watching

Things to Work On

  • Not getting shingles before the holidays.

  • Growing old gracefully. Sort of.

Tom Ferguson
Next

The Folly of Prediction, Things That Don’t Change, and a Few Predictions from Us Anyway