Epoona invests in German biological water treatment company. The company “Blue Activity” takes the biological purification of water to a new level with its groundbreaking technology. Epoona identifies the potential and expands its portfolio in the water sector with this investment.
Water is the most important resource of our time. Water processing and water treatment take place in almost all branches of industry – often involving the use of environmentally harmful additives that could easily be avoided nowadays. Today, a careful handling of water is of inestimable value, because only in this way can the quality and availability of water be ensured for future generations. This is recognized by Blue Activity!
To ensure hygienic operation of industrial cooling towers, tons of chemicals are used today to kill unwanted germs, just as they were many years ago. Microorganisms are developing ever better resistances to chemical substances, which is why ever greater quantities are being used. The issue of sustainability is currently still given very little thought. Blue Activity recognized the need and developed a novel process for sustainable and safe water treatment. By using special microorganisms that already exist in nature, water systems can be purified more efficiently. As a result, water consumption can be significantly minimized in many cases. Instead of chemicals, Blue Activity relies on the power of nature and thus completely eliminates all hazardous substance additions.
How does it work exactly? Blue Activity uses an innovative process for the treatment of cooling water in open recooling plants, in which probiotic microorganisms are added to the cooling water for purification. The added microorganisms enable an improvement of the system performance, as biofilm formation is sustainably avoided by establishing a new microbial dominance. This enables an increase in efficiency and CO2 savings. Furthermore, the prevention of microbially induced corrosion is achieved.
“Blue Activity’s technology has the potential to play a significant role in solving the world’s water treatment challenges. The benefits of treatment with Blue Activity are obvious: lower water consumption, reduced treatment costs, lower operating costs and lower CO2 emissions”, explains Lothar Stadler, Managing Partner at Epoona and operationally responsible for Sales and Global Partnerships in the portfolio companies. “Saving chemicals while protecting the environment, improving our own ESG & CSR criteria and generating economic benefits in the process – that’s what Blue Activity stands for“, adds Werner Töpfl, Managing Partner at Epoona and responsible for Finance and Operations.
Investment in the next generation of industrial water treatment
Epoona sees the topic of sustainable water treatment as another piece of the puzzle of its investment portfolio in their core water business. Epoona not only joins Blue Activity as an investor, but as usual with Epoona, they also strengthen the operational management team. Founder team Lars Havighorst and Michael Simon are joined by experienced Epoona managers from the industry to drive the go-to-market strategy, company building and further RnD roadmap. Applications for the company’s products are seen in particular in the glass, steel, plastics, wood, paper and chemical industries in the first phase. Due to the good scalability of the solution, rapid internationalization is also planned.
The existing owners were looking for fresh capital coupled with operational know-how in building companies. Epoona was able to close an investment round of EUR 0.5m in the first phase. The fresh capital will be used for market development and company growth. “With Blue Activity we have found another investment that falls perfectly into our core area of water and that makes our earth a bit more livable. The team is very competent and together we will achieve sustainable success“, Werner Töpfl is delighted. “We look forward to working with Epoona, an operating investor with extensive experience and a broad network in the technology industry” said the German company’s CEO Lars Havighorst.
