BIV Monthly Update XLVI

Written By Tom Ferguson

BIV Monthly Update XLVI – August 7, 2024

“I’m…pretty…tired” Forrest Gump, Forrest Gump

Highlights

  • What an absolute delight to welcome the BIV founders to our third Founder Forum, this time in the excellent Reservoir Center in Washington DC. It was an exceptional couple of days, preceded by an exceptional couple of full team days. Our thanks to all who joined us, our speakers, and of course to Jessica and Marissa for being the architects. Special shout out to Matt Johnson for the bingo…

  • Steve and I attended Big Path Capital’s Impact Capitalism Summit in (on?) Nantucket, which was thought provoking, and an immediate and welcome expansion of our network. It was a real all-star room, and we appreciated the time on stage and at the roundtables. I wasn’t actively heckled, or booed off, and no fruit was thrown, so counting it as a win. 

  • Around all this (and with thanks to Marissa) we managed to host three full sessions with our network of LPs to revisit the thesis and progress, as well as spend an hour with three of the founders. Recordings available on request. 

  • We got IC confirmation in our sixth and seventh investments in Fund II - one in subsea desalination (gotta love the Norwegians when they’re not running the 800m), and another that has revolutionized electrocoagulation.

  • Wonderful to be back in the UK to celebrate a friend’s wedding very traditionally (think Four Weddings and a Funeral, staying above a pub overlooking an actual 8th Century Abbey, the whole shebang). Also great to see my parents in North Carolina with our extended family, until our stay got curtailed by the accursed COVID (this strain is a doozy - stay safe). I got to swim in Green River again, which is one of my happy places. 

 August Asks

BIV Portfolio Updates 

Seed I

  • Beagle Services -  New requirements for shutoff valves from Chubb, Farmers and others already driving strong tailwinds. Working with several industry majors to install shutoff valves. Banging the drum on brand as the go-to partner to solve the growing insurance requirements. Profitable.

  • CivilGrid – Launching in Florida with a strong partner on their side. In late-stage pilot talks with multiple major utilities.

  • Daupler – Strong progress preparing for the Series B. The story only gets better, and the markets bigger. Great case study from the City of Ottawa, KS. 

  • Floodbase –  Featured in Reinsurance News for their relief and recovery work in the continental U.S. Strong work with FEMA and Guy Carpenter ahead of the brunt of hurricane season.

  • Irrigreen – Featured in Forbes Vetted and CNBC’s Power Lunch!

  • LAIIER – Closing in on the Series A with strong partners in play. A great case study from the team on the economic payback of installing leak detection.

  • NLine Energy – Harvesting more margin with electrical engineering on the team. Matt has been on a sales warpath with stellar results. One $4.2m sale complete. 

  • SewerAI – Featured in The Built World, DAIMAGISTER and Aquatech. If you ever wanted to see Sewer Robotics at work, this video from a team member is epic.

  • Shower Stream – Strong momentum building for an oversubscribed Series Seed round. Building relationships across the fixtures and home-sensing sectors. 

  • Spout – Their first 1,000 unit production run is imminent with units shipping mid-Fall. Genuinely cannot wait to get my hands on it. 

  • SwiftComply – Churning along nicely. Exciting news forthcoming. Awesome case study from the City of Circleville on their 56% increase in compliance.

  • Ziptility – Great show at the Louisiana Rural Water Association's Annual Conference.

  • ZwitterCo – Announced their $58.4 million Series B featured in Axios. Excellent reflections from DCVC and Munich Re Ventures. 

  • 2S Water – Gearing up for deployment of their first set of ruggedized AquaValid sensors for heavy metals detection.  Strong strategic thinking about uses for AquaValid beyond mining. 

  • Aclarity – Received a Governor's Citation from Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey for being named one of TIME's Top GreenTech Companies of 2024.

  • Aquafortus – Recent earthquake that shut down rail lines sent shockwaves through the oil and gas industry for the need to limit injected volumes and reuse water. The team continues to perform technical and operational miracles. $600k left (it’s an amazing deal).

Seed II

  • 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: 1269 (+28)

  • We're sprinting to catch up on our pipeline after early-month team outings! The PFAS detection scene is exploding with innovative tech, cracking the code on short-chain compound testing.

  • Our deal radar is pinging with diverse opportunities, from algae revolutionizing wastewater treatment to high-tech coastal monitoring and precise nutrient management in hydroponics.

 Team

  • So wonderful to spend time with the full team in DC. I’m so blessed to work with such excellent people who are universally much (much) smarter than me. Keep up, Tom…

 BIV Insight/Visibility

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

We’re Reading/Listening/Watching

  • If you haven’t seen The Grab yet, watch it. Sobering. But nice to know we’re on the right side of that fight. 

  • Great episode from Freakonomics Radio “Water, Water, Everywhere - But You Have to Stop and Think.”

  • Order Out of Chaos by Kidnap Negotiator Scott Walker. Negotiation, like almost anything else, is always about the other person and how well we listen to what others are actually telling us.

  • Pat Grady’s podcast The Relentless Application of Force from Invest Like the Best made its rounds within BIV, getting multiple listens from us and stimulating conversation and sharpening our approach. It’s excellent.

  • Snoop Dogg at the Olympics. Legend.

Things to Work On

Tom Ferguson
Previous

BIV Monthly Update XLVII
Next

Why we invested in Cala Systems