PFAS start-up Water & Carbon Group raises $US10m; Research platform Ideally raises capital

Having discovered a way to remove toxic chemicals from waste water at rubbish tips, this Brisbane firm hopes to now roll out its tech to treat drinking water across the US.

From left: Water & Carbon Group chief executive Jim Hunter, chief financial officer Amanda Bochow, North America president Nick Ganzon and sales and marketing vice-president John Croom.

An Aussie wastewater treatment start-up that began life treating ammonia and went on to remove toxic chemicals has raised $US10m ($14.45m).

Water & Carbon Group has developed a technology that can remove harmful chemicals including PFAS (Per- and poly­fluoroalkyl substances) from waste­­water.

After success in Australia, the start-up sees an opportunity to build hundreds of treatment plants in the US, where the harmful effects of PFAS were beginning to be noticed, Water & Carbon Group chief executive Jim Hunter said.

Switzerland-based venture capital firm Emerald led the $US10m raise. Nasdaq-listed water treatment company Ecolab also participated.

Water and Carbon Group’s treatment plants usually take between two to three months to deploy but container-sized plants could be set up much faster, Mr Hunter said.

PFAS is found in Teflon products, non-stick frying pans and in water proofing.

It could contaminate wastewater and enter dams used for drinking water, Mr Hunter said.

Mr Hunter said many health bodies and government organisations had paid particular attention to the danger PFAS presented in recent months after it was found in a Blue Mountains dam earlier this year.

WaterNSW was able to trace PFAS to Medlow Dam.

Water & Carbon Group chief executive Jim Hunter

Mr Hunter said PFAS was largely a Western world problem.

PFAS chemicals have been used throughout many countries including Europe to make products resistant to grease, water, heat and stains over the past five decades.

It is primarily found in Teflon products, waterproofing, non-stick frying pans and firefighting foams.

Mr Hunter said the start-up came up with its technology while looking to provide for a treatment for ammonia.

“We were working on a site for the City of Darwin and developing a solution for them for their landfill leachate, which is the wastewater that comes from landfills,” he said.

“Through that process while we were running a pilot plant we discovered PFAS in the system. We were actually more focused on ammonia and other contaminants, but at the time there was nothing in the market that was effective or efficient in the treatment of PFAS.”

Other methods of treating PFAS rely on activated carbon or resin. “Those sorts of technologies work fine but are best suited for when you’ve got really clear water like groundwater that has PFAS in it,” Mr Hunter said.

“When you’ve got landfill leachate, which is horribly contaminated and very complex wastewater, being able to selectively extract PFAS we found to be the most efficient method.”

Water & Carbon Group patented their technology.

The Darwin site became what Mr Hunter believes is the world’s first permanent commercial landfill treatment facility dealing with PFAS, treating about 51 million litres of leachate annually.

The start-up’s second site is the Bethlehem Landfill project in Pennsylvania in the US which can treat 378,000 litres of leachate daily.

Ideally raises $5.5m

Meanwhile, an insights platform whose clients include Australia’s largest telco, Telstra, and one of the world’s largest beverage makers, Asahi, has raised $5.5m.

Ideally chief executive James Donald said the platform leveraged customer surveys and research to give overnight answers to organisations that wished to test campaigns and other creative ideas.

Ideally chief executive James Donald is hoping to grow its US customer base.

“We’ve sort of automated the process of taking ideas and being able to put those ideas in front of hundreds of people in Australia, New Zealand and all around the world,” he said.

“We then bring that information back and make sense of it so that sort of marketing teams can understand what people like about their idea or where they can take their idea or just sort of understand people.”

The idea has gained quite some ground, with Afterpay, Nine, Bupa, Revlon, Kraft Heinz and Goodman Fielder becoming customers.

The $5.5m raise was led by Icehouse Ventures and OIF Ventures, who see an opportunity for the start-up to grow its customer base in the US.

“We’ve been very impressed with Ideally’s growth since our initial investment last year,” said Icehouse Ventures chief executive Robbie Paul. “Of the 150+ software companies we’ve funded, the average time to $1m in revenue is four years and $5m takes close to six years.

“Ideally passed the $1m mark in half the average time and is on track to hit $5m just as rapidly.”