Monday, May 10, 2010
Emefcy raises $5m Series A financing
UK investment fund Pond Venture Partners led the round, joined by current Emefcy investors Israel Cleantech Ventures Funds and Plan B Ventures, according to Globes and IVC Online.
Emefcy, co-founded by serial entrepreneurs Eytan Levy and Ronen Shechter, is developing the MEGAWATTER™ technology. This technology produces low cost electricity (at $0.10/kWhr) and hydrogen in a bio-electro-chemical process from wastewater treatment by leveraging Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology.
Levy and Shechter previously founded wastewater treatment company AqWise. In February 2009, this blog detailed Emefcy's efforts to raise a $3.5-$5.0 million Series A financing. That same month, Levy presented at a public event at MIT organized by the Boston Israel Cleantech Alliance. Plan B Ventures is based in Boston and its principal, Barbara Goldman, is a member of the Boston Israel Cleantech Alliance.
Levy told Globes, "The capital raised will help us set up a commercial pilot. We've already established laboratory pilots on increasingly larger scales. Progress to a commercial pilot is based on the successful results of the laboratory pilots."
Emefcy's Scientific Advisory Board includes Prof. Bruce Logan of Pennsylvania State University, Prof. Derek Lovely of the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) and Prof. Bruce Rittmann, Director of the Biodesign Institute at the University of Arizona.
Related Posts:
Emefcy signs collaboration agreements, raising Series A funds
Israel Cleantech buys 11% of AqWise
AqWise founders start new cleantech venture
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Israel boasts 6 water startups, including Emefcy and AquaPure, in Artemis Project list
The Artemis Project, a California-based consultancy and research firm, sponsored the first Top 50 Water Companies Competition to identify the leading game-changing technologies that provide venture grade investment opportunities in the water sector. The companies were selected by a panel of experts based on an integrated matrix of four criteria: technology, intellectual property and know-how, team and market potential.
Israel's representatives in the Top 50 include:
#4 Emefcy: Emefcy, based in Caesarea, is the developer of the MEGAWATTER™ platform, a bio-electro-chemical process for electricity and hydrogen production using wastewater as a fuel. This technology addresses a market of industrial wastewater treatment plants in which anaerobic treatment is not applicable, thus expensive-to-operate aerobic treatment is applied. Emefcy currently runs several prototypes and plans to commence field piloting in Q3/2009. Emefcy raised a first round of financing from Israel Cleantech Ventures in 2007.
#7 AquaPure: AquaPure, based in Dalton, was founded in 2002 to provide the municipal and groundwater treatment markets with innovative and proprietary Non Thermal Plasma (NTP) technology to remove micro pollutants from contaminated drinking water. AquaPure has raised funds from Ludan Engineering and the Office of Chief Scientist. According to the company, AquaPure performed successful pilot testing in California, and scale up to a commercial beta unit test is scheduled to operate during Q1 and Q2 2009 in order to generate revenues starting Q1 2010.
#21 CheckLight: CheckLight, based in Kiryat Tivon, is developing, manufacturing and marketing cost effective, wide spectrum, automatic bioluminescencebased water quality tests for rapid screening and real-time water quality monitoring. CheckLight has raised up to $3.5 million from Whitewater Technology Group, an Israeli investment company.
#36 ProWell Technologies: ProWell Technologies, based in Tel Aviv, is the developer of "Air Shock", an innovative, non-destructive and environmentally friendly technology for water well rehabilitation, development and stimulation.
#48 Lesico CleanTech: Lesico CleanTech is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lesico-Leshman Group, and specializes in the development and marketing of technologies for the treatment of industrial brine in general and for the treatment of brine at brackish water desalination facilities in Israel in particular. Current brine removal methods create severe environmental problems, contaminate water sources and soil, and face strict regulations that ban the expanded use of these methods. Lesico CleanTech, in cooperation with Ben-Gurion University and its Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, has consequently developed technological solutions for the reduction of the volume of brine by means of accelerated evaporation and by recycling and reusing brine using electro-dialysis.
#49: BioPetroClean: BioPetroClean, based in Petah Tikva, specializes in bioremediation of industrial wastewaters. The company's Automated Chemostat Treatement (ACT) technology can be applied to a wide variety of sites, including oil refineries, terminals, drilling sites, marine ports, power stations, contaminated reservoires and storage tanks. BioPetroClean has raised $8.5 million from 21Ventures and Quercus Trust.
“The Artemis Project’s Top 50 Water Companies Competition winners have excelled in key strategic areas in the emerging advanced water technology sector,” said Laura Shenkar, Principal of The Artemis Project. “We are excited to spotlight these innovative companies for the first time on the world’s stage and congratulate them for their achievements in introducing the solutions that will reinvent the water landscape.”
"We are proud to be selected as one of the top five winners of the Artemis Project’s Top 50 Water Companies Competition" said Eytan Levy, Emefcy's co-founder and CEO. "It verifies our belief that our mission of applying a profitable, innovative new source of energy is on the right path," says Levy.
Related Posts:
Emefcy signs collaboration agreements, raising Series A funds
BioPetroClean raises funds from 21Ventures
CheckLight raises $3.5 million from Whitewater
Sunday, March 1, 2009
AqWise wins EU Eureka grant to develop wastewater treatment system
The funds, to be shared with AqWise's Dutch partners Agriton B.V., Westt, Aquaexplorer, and Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden, will be used to develop a combined anaerobic and aerobic reactor system for treating wastewater
AqWise will develop a dynamic anaerobic aerobic reactor ("DANA") that will allow the integration of anaerobic and aerobic processes in one vertical configuration. Under the terms of the agreement, Aqwise will develop the system and its Dutch partners will integrate it.
The system is designed to help sewage treatment companies reduce the number of treatment tanks in a wastewater treatment plant.
Details of the grant are available here on the Eureka web site.
AqWise was founded by Eytan Levy and Ronen Shechter, now the CEO and CTO, respectively, of microbial fuel cell startup Emefcy.
Aqwise's investors include Israel Cleantech Ventures, Elron Electronic Industries Ltd., and Mexico-based steel company (and AqWise customer) AHMSA.
Related Posts:
AqWise to supply technology to wastewater treatment facility in Israel
Israel Cleantech buys 11% of AqWise
AqWise founders start new cleantech venture
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Emefcy signs collaboration agreements, raising Series A funds
Emefcy, co-founded by serial entrepreneurs Eytan Levy and Ronen Shechter, is developing the MEGAWATTER™ technology. This technology produces low cost electricity (at $0.10/kWhr) and hydrogen in a bio-electro-chemical process from wastewater treatment by leveraging Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology. Emefcy's technological breakthrough is focused on the development of electrode materials and structure that feature durability, high power output and low cost.
Levy and Shechter, who previously founded wastewater treatment company AqWise, have already received venture funding from Israel Cleantech Ventures, and Greentech Media has detailed Levy's efforts to raise $3.5-5.0m in a Series A funding round. CEO Eytan Levy plans to be on the East Coast in February and March for meetings with potential investors. On February 26th, Levy will speak at a public event at MIT organized by the Boston Israel Cleantech Alliance.
Emefcy's Scientific Advisory Board includes Prof. Bruce Logan of Pennsylvania State University, Prof. Derek Lovely of the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) and Prof. Bruce Rittmann, Director of the Biodesign Institute at the University of Arizona.
More information about Emefcy's MEGAWATTER™ system and Emefcy's business plan is available in this online video, in this company presentation, and in past reports by the Jerusalem Post and Israel21c.
Related Posts:
Israel Cleantech buys 11% of AqWise
AqWise founders start new cleantech venture
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
CleanIsrael Cleantech Startup Showcase
The presenting companies are Agam Energy, Emefcy, High Check Control, Phoebus Energy, and SOVNA.
The event is sponsored by Amit, Pollak, Matalon & Co. and organized in conjunction with IDC Herzliya's new Institute for Renewable Energy Policy and Applied Research (IDC IREP), founded by Dr. Isaac Berzin.
This the first event of its kind for the CleanIsrael Network. Founded last March by the author of this blog and Gene Dolgin, an analyst at Israel Cleantech Ventures, the group grown into a network of 650+ cleantech-related entrepreneurs, investors, academic researchers, service providers, and government officials. CleanIsrael's regular networking events host speakers from industry-leading organizations such as Better Place, Cleantech Group, Israel Cleantech Ventures, and Sindicatum Carbon Capital.
More than 150 people have already registered to attend the event in Israel. For more information, and to register, click here.
There will also be a live web cast of the event to several North American groups, including the Boston Israel Cleantech Alliance, California Israel Chamber of Commerce, Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce, and the law offices of Gowlings in Toronto and Ottawa. Click here to register for the event in Boston.
Several of the participating companies should be familiar to readers of this blog and observers of Israel's cleantech industry.
Emefcy, co-founded by serial entrepreneurs Eytan Levy and Ronen Shechter, who previously founded wastewater treatment company AqWise, has already received venture funding from Israel Cleantech Ventures. Emefcy, which is developing products that produce electricity from wastewater treatment by leveraging Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology, was featured in Jerusalem Post. Greentech Media detailed Levy's efforts to raise $3.5-5.0m in a Series A funding round during the CICC Cleantech Tour of Silicon Valley last month.
Phoebus Energy, which received a first round of venture funding from Terra Venture Partners in 2007, is developing a hybrid heating unit to more efficiently produce energy for institutions such as hotels, hospitals, and factories. Phoebus, and its CEO, Yoav Ben-Yaacov, were featured in Israel21c earlier this year.
SOVNA, a startup that installs vertical micro wind turbines atop high-rise buildings, was previously called ALT-E and was featured in Ha'aretz earlier this year. Erez Ella, a noted Israeli architect whose projects include the Museum Plaza in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of Sovna's co-founders and also participated in the CICC Cleantech Tour of Silicon Valley last month.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Cleantech Israel group featured in Globes
Cleantech Israel enables people (including entrepreneurs, investors, academic researchers and government officials) to meet and exchange ideas about the renewable energy, water, and environmental sectors.
The group's next event, on April 29, will include a presentation by Alon Tamari, Co-CEO of SolarPower Ltd., followed by time for networking. You can join the group and RSVP for the next event at our web page.
"Globes": Cleantech industry networks in Israel
About 50 representatives from various parts of Israel's cleantech industry recently met in Herzliya Pituach to launch a networking initiative. They included venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, Ronit Golovaty from the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute and even Jaclyn Marcus from the California Public Utilities Commission. The meet-up was organized by Jonathan Shapira, from Boston, and Gene Dolgin from Tel Aviv. The Cleantech Israel group currently has 134 members.
Jonathan Shapira is a law student from Boston who is currently serving an internship with Israel Cleantech Ventures, where Gene Dolgin is an analyst. The US law firm of Goodwin Procter LLP, which has an extensive Clean Technology Practice, sponsored the meet-up. Shapira says that he will soon be working for the firm.
Shapira and Dolgin, aware that there are similar cleantech networking groups in places like Boston and Silicon Valley, decided to organize the group to enable key players in the industry in Israel - entrepreneurs, investors, academics, and government officials - to meet and exchange ideas. Shapira notes that while Israel has many strengths when it comes to cleantech, the lack of government support, especially when compared to what is happening in other countries, may hold the industry back. He hopes that members of the Cleantech Israel group, together with other organizations such as Waterfronts - Israel Water Alliance, and the newly created Israel Energy Forum, might be able to persuade the government to implement better policies related to renewable energy, clean water, and the environment.
Shapira told "Globes", "Gene and I decided to organize the network together, and we received a strong response, especially from entrepreneurs and investors. Other parties quickly joined, including academics and a few government officials.
The participants at the Cleantech Israel meet-up included former Gemini Israel Funds partner Tali Aben; Genesis Partners principle Gil Dibner; Terra Venture Partners LP general partner Dr. Harold Weiner; and Israel Cleantech managing partner Jack Levy. Levy noted, "Although Israel entered cleantech late, great things have emerged here within only three years, on both the entrepreneurs and the funds side."
Participating entrepreneurs included low-cost regenerative fuel-cell developer Enstorage Ltd. CEO Eran Yarkoni, wastewater treatment solutions developer AqWise Ltd. VP business development Udi Leshem; Emefcy Bioenergy Systems CEO Eytan Levy, who previously co-founded AqWise; Phoebus Energy Ltd. CEO Yoav Ben-Yaacov; Ashkelon Technological Industries (ATI) cleantech director Rafi Nevo; and Noam Ilan, who is the project manager of the alternative energy park under construction at the Eilot Regional Council in the southern Negev.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Israel Cleantech buys 11% of AqWise
AqWise CEO Elad Frenkel said, "This investment means that three institutional investors now stand behind the company: AHMSA, Elron, and Israel Cleantech." Mexican mining conglomerate Altos Hornos de Mexico SA de CV, owns 55% of AqWise, Elron Electronic Industries Ltd. owns 34%, and Israel Cleantech now owns 11%.
Globes says that this will not be Israel Cleantech's final investment in AqWise, which is in the late stages of an internal financial financing round amounting to a few million dollars from its current investors. The company is also close to signing contracts worth several million dollars with customers in Israel, Europe, the US, and Latin America.
"Globes": Do you plan to raise capital from external sources?
Frenkel: "Elron is a strategic investor, not merely a financial one. Israel Cleantech and AHMSA are also both strategic investors. That's why we don’t need outside money right now. They want to stand behind the company and make it succeed."
AqWise was founded in 2000. It specializes in the upgrading of wastewater treatment plants through the Attached Growth Airlift Reactor (AGAR) process, a method for biologically increasing water treatment capacity using biofilm carriers. The company posted a fourth quarter loss after posting profits in the preceding quarters, but the company has installed dozens of commercial units around the world, and its global target market is estimated at more than a $1 billion a year, and it is growing.
In 2007, AqWise was named in "The Cleantech Revolution" as one of the top 10 companies to watch in the field of water filtration
Ronen Shechter and Eytan Levy recently founded a new microbial fuel cell company, EMEFCY Bioenergy Systems, which will focus on the production of electricity and fuel from heavy duty industrial waste. Levy is also a venture partner at Israel Cleantech Ventures.
Monday, October 22, 2007
AqWise founders start new cleantech venture
Eytan Levy and Ronen Shechter, the founders of this new venture, called EMEFCY Bioenergy Systems, explain their technology in an interview published in Globes. Levy is currently a venture partner at Israel Cleantech Ventures.
