Bloomberg: "Blooming Deserts Turn Israeli Water Industry Into Money Magnet"

Bloomberg.com recently published a positive article about the prospects for Israel's water industry.

According to Bloomberg, "Some 300 Israeli companies make equipment to deliver water or purify it with lasers or diffusion, putting them in a position to profit as climate change, population growth and food shortages strain supplies. With agriculture accounting for about two-thirds of global water use, the Israeli government predicts overseas sales of the technology will top $10 billion by 2017."

The article mentions Netafim, a world leader in irrigation solutions; Amiad Filtration Systems, which will help manage sewage treatment at the Beijing Olympics; and Desalitech, a Tel Aviv-based startup that has apparently invented a way to take salt out of water using 20 percent less energy than standard reverse osmosis.

The article also includes interviews with Nir Belzer, managing partner at the AquAgro Fund, and Oded Distel, director of NewTech, Israel's national program to promote water technologies.

Advanced Desalination Technologies raises $4 million from AquAgro Fund

AquAgro Fund, a cleantech venture capital fund affiliated with Gaon Agro Industries Ltd., has made its first investment. Sources inform ''Globes'' that it is investing $4 million in Advanced Desalination Technologies Ltd.

Advanced Desalination Technologies -- now renamed Desalitech --has reportedly completed a pilot at a municipal facility. Desalination and improving wells are two fields where every saving is essential, and the company's reverse osmosis technology is designed to greatly improve the efficiency of desalination.

AquAgro managing partner Nir Belzer declined to comment on financial matters, but confirmed that an investment had been made. He added that a major international fund was considering investing in Advanced Desalination Technologies. He said that the investment in the company was in line with the fund's policy of investing in companies with proven technologies undergoing pilot programs prior to commercialization.

Advanced Desalination Technologies is a family firm founded by Prof. Avi Efrati, and his son, Nadav Efrati, who will shortly take over as CEO. The company employs subcontractors, and raised $2 million prior to AquAgro's investment. The company has no website.

AquAgro invests in late-stage cleantech ventures. Its founder and chairman, Benjamin Gaon, is the chairman of Gaon Agro and its parent company, B. Gaon Holdings Ltd.. The fund has raised $40 million, and plans to close on $100 million by the end of 2008.