AqWise wins EU Eureka grant to develop wastewater treatment system

AqWise, a Herzliya, Israel-based wastewater treatment company, has won a €2 million grant from the European Union Eureka R&D program.

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.

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Tigo Energy adds three cleantech industry veterans to board of advisors

Tigo Energy, a California- and Israel-based solar startup developing technology to increase efficiency in photovoltaic installations, announced today that industry veterans, Professor Takashi Tomita, Mr. Yair Cohen and Dr. Nathan Zommer, have agreed to join the company's board of advisors.
Yair Cohen was previously a Brig. General (Res.) in the IDF and head of the IDF's famous Unit 8200, responsible for collecting signal intelligence and code decryption -- Israel's equivalent to the NSA. As described in this Forbes article, Unit 8200 alumni have founded high-tech companies such as Check Point, ICQ, Nice, AudioCodes and Gilat. Mr. Cohen is now Senior Vice-President of IDB Group, one of Israel's largest holding companies, he occupies executive positions at Clal Energy and Elron, and he is a director of cleantech companies Atlantium and AqWise. In November 2008, Clal Energy announced a collaboration agreement with Tigo Energy.

Nathan Zommer, PhD is the Chairman and CEO of Nasdaq-listed IXYS Corporation, which he founded in 1983. During IXYS' 25 year history, he has been an advocate of energy efficient technologies as strategic investment opportunities. Zommer has served as a director since 1983 and as chairman of the board, president and CEO since March 1993. Prior to founding IXYS, Zommer served in a variety of positions with Intersil, Hewlett Packard and General Electric, including as a scientist in the Hewlett Packard Laboratories and director of the Power MOS division for Intersil/General Electric. Zommer also holds many patents in Power OSFETs and IGBTs.

Takashi Tomita now serves as Visiting Professor of the University of Tokyo, Research Center of Advanced Science and Technology; and as a Member of the Market Strategy Board of the International Electro-technical Commission (IEC). Prior to this, Tomita provided 34 years of successful leadership at SHARP Corporation. As an Executive Director of Sharp and head of the Solar Business Group, Tomita guided the company to become the largest solar supplier in the world for seven consecutive years, achieved a total solar business volume of $1.5bn in 2006, and established Sharp as the top residential solar supplier in Japan.

The three new appointees will join Gary Gerber, President of the California Solar Energy Industries Association -- SEIA; and CEO of Sun, Light & Power on the Tigo Energy board of advisors.

"We are pleased that these gentlemen -- each a key leader in the energy sector -- have recognized the potential within Tigo Energy's solar solution," stated Ron Hadar, President of Tigo Energy. "Each has committed their assistance towards our goal of accelerating solar adoption."

Mr. Cohen, Senior Vice President of IDB Group stated, "Tigo's innovative technology and great people position the company for strong contributions to the Solar Industry. I'm happy to be part of the team."

Speaking of the recent additions to the board of advisors and future of the company, Tigo Energy CEO Sam Arditi said, "Tigo Energy is honored to have these international industry leaders join as advisors. We will take their recommendations seriously and look forward to contributing to the growth of the industry as a whole."

According to the company's web site, Tigo Energy builds hardware and software intelligence into solar energy installations, making them more efficient, more manageable, and safer. By maximizing the energy output of each individual module, Tigo's advanced balance-of-system products deliver lower cost of ownership and a faster return on investment for existing and new solar installations. Started in 2007, Tigo has raised six million dollars in a round led by Matrix Partners and OVP Venture Partners, and successfully deployed beta installations across US and Europe in cooperation with prominent regional installers.

In October 2008, Tigo Energy announced the opening of an office in Kfar Saba, Israel, that will focus on the company's engineering activities. Mordechay (Modi) Avrutsky heads Tigo Energy's Israel operation and serves as Vice President of Engineering.

More information about Tigo Energy's technology and business plan is available online in this presentation by the company.

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Israel Cleantech buys 11% of AqWise

"Globes" reports that Israel Cleantech Ventures has acquired an 11% stake in sewage treatment solutions developer AqWise - Wise Water Technologies Ltd. from its founders, Ronen Shechter and Eytan Levy, in a secondary transaction in a deal that valued the company at $10 million.

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.