BIV Monthly Update XLIX

Written By Tom Ferguson

BIV Monthly Update – November 11, 2024

“So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide.” Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings

Highlights

  • Good board meetings with NLine, 2S, Beagle, Ziptility, Subeca and others. Things to keep an eye on, of course, but some remarkable progress across the portfolio as we move to year-end.

  • CB attended the Water Security and Climate Resilience roundtable at the White House on Halloween. Good to see the issue continuing to advance at the Federal level. 

  • Such a lovely trip to Delhi to celebrate Ruki’s Grandfather’s 100th birthday. A wonderful occasion celebrating a wonderful man. He’s also an investing mentor - he still knows the details of his portfolio and all the financial minutiae of the Indian market upside down and back to front. At 100.

January Asks

BIV Portfolio Updates 

Fund I

  • Floodbase –  Attended ICT Vegas and gave a talk on AI being used in insurable flood risk. Launched a first-of-its-kind parametric flood insurance program for California municipalities.

  • Irrigreen – Closing in on their round, posting solid numbers for the Fall season.

  • LAIIER – Joined Xylem Innovation Labs for XylemReach. Building their marketing engine. Their latest Water Leak Nightmares series is a hoot. Almost there on the round.

  • NLine Energy – Onboarded a new CCO, already hit the ground running. End of year numbers are looking good.

  • SewerAI – Two major conferences this month. Strategy in good shape. The revamped website is looking good.

  • Shower Stream – 132 daily active users took 5,972 total showers with 0 complaints last month. Still working with initial pilot partner on a 5 location expansion contract. 

  • Spout – Reuben got married in Peru (congratulations!) and worked with a village to provide a water access solution (v on brand for him). The first Monolith Atmospheric Water Harvester has officially arrived from the factory. 

  • SwiftComply – Exhibited at the Pacific Northwest Pretreatment Workshop in Vancouver. Sales strong.

  • Ziptility – Alliance of Indiana Rural Water conference a success. Building towards an important evolution of the company.

  • ZwitterCo – Good showing at WEFTEC, and executing well against the GtM strategy.

  • 2S Water – Initial deployments performing well, and commercial pipeline is building. Preparing for raise in Q1/Q2, multiple interested parties in play. 

  • Aclarity – Joined USDA in developing a "research roadmap" to tackle PFAS contamination in agriculture. On the Norrsken Impact/100 list for 2024.

  • Aquafortus – Pilot achieved continuous operation, controlled remotely from NZ. A huge step. O&G major joined the cap table, new round imminent. 

  • Beagle Services – Attended a broker event with Chubb. Featured in a webinar with the Private Risk Management Association. Great testimonial from a client.

  • CivilGrid –  Significant contract coming into play. Attended the American Gas Association conference. 

  • Daupler – Successful WEFTEC. CMO close to confirmed, and major JDs are in the field. On track for first Power IOU by year end ($100m+ ARR market).

Fund II

  • HOPE Hydration – Celebrating their partnership with the EB Research Partnership in honor of EB Awareness Week. Significant deals nearing completion.

  • TeamSolve – Attended the Borneo International Water & Wastewater Exhibition & Conference 2024 (BIWWEC) and WEFTEC.

  • Aquatic Labs - Pilots continue to perform well. Will need to keep a close eye on the CDR market, but have multiple ancillary markets. 

  • Cala Systems - 671 pre-orders and counting  ($1.88m in revenue on delivery). Featured on the Venveo Podcast. Tune in here. Hiring for a VP of Marketing and VP of Sales.

  • Subeca - Chosen as the 2024 Smart City Product of the Year by Klika Tech. Closing in on a large contract with a tech major.

Opportunity Fund I

  • Aqua Membranes - Announced BIV’s investment at WEFTEC. Have begun work on the new 100,000 ft2 production facility in Tennessee, including ordering equipment. First board meeting in TN next week.

  • Daupler – Successful WEFTEC. CMO close to confirmed, and major JDs are in the field. On track for first Power IOU by year end ($100m+ ARR market).

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: 1376 (+43)

  • A busy period as always in the run-up to Thanksgiving and the holidays, and plenty of conversations in process from WEFTEC and beyond. The caliber of the founders we have met over the last few months is high and getting higher.

  • Still plenty of ground to cover in digital solutions for utilities, and we’re seeing a lot of novel treatment tech. Emissions management in WWTPs is getting more (much-needed) attention.

Team

  • Props to CB and SK for their ongoing work to build the network. Almost 40 meetings in 2 days. Invaluable extension of the network.

BIV Insight/Visibility

  • CB included alongside Anthea Sargeaunt (2S Water) and our friend Ginger Rothrock at HG Ventures in Startup Basecamp’s 20 Women Driving The Future of Climate Tech.

  • JG joined a Special Session on Water Entrepreneurship at DC Startup & Tech Week.

  • CB completed her last board meeting for Cal/Nevada AWWA - a tremendous milestone marking her 7-year run at serving the water community.

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

We’re Reading/Listening/Watching

  Things to Work On

  • Achieve real clarity on the impact of a change in administration in January on the water sector. We’re comfortable with our position, but there should be as few surprises as possible.

Tom Ferguson
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BIV Monthly Update XLVIII