Vancouver’s Axine Water Technologies Raises $5.6 Million Series A Round from BDC VC and Others

February 12, 2014

Axine Water Technologies has closed a $5.6 million Series A financing round.

The Vancouver-based developers of a low-cost, chemical-free solution for treating high concentrations of problematic, toxic organics, ammonia, and other pollutants in industrial wastewater, says the round included California-based investor The Roda Group, who joined existing investors Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital and BDC Venture Capital.

Over the past 12 months, Axine says that it has worked closely with industry leaders in oil and gas, refining, waste management, and chemical processing to verify and benchmark the capability of its technology in treating the most difficult wastewaters at a cost of up to five times lower than incumbent solutions.

“This important infusion of capital ensures our continued rapid progress towards the commercialization of our ‘best-in-breed’ wastewater treatment technology,” said Jonathan Rhone, CEO of Axine. “Since our initial funding in late 2012, we have successfully completed performance testing on customer wastewaters using a 10 times scale-up of our proprietary electrolytic oxidation cell validating high efficacy treatment at low cost and low energy consumption without using chemicals.”

“We’re now focused on completing final cell scale-up and system integration to prepare for delivery of field pilot units to customer sites early next year,” he added.

“Water is an increasingly strategic issue for the oil & gas industry due to rising costs, requirements for water reuse, and more stringent discharge standards,” confirmed Jean-Michel Gires, former CEO of Total E&P Canada and now Venture Partner with Chrysalix EVC. “Axine offers a unique and disruptive solution that addresses significant challenges throughout the oil and gas value chain—from oil sands SAGD to refinery effluent—offering exactly the type of breakthrough innovation I believe this industry needs to realize the true energy opportunity, while preserving the environment in the process.”

“Waste treatment and water reuse are massive global problems and top investment priorities for Roda. Axine represents the kind of breakthrough technology we’re looking for as it stands to solve significant issues across a wide range of water-intensive industries,” added principal at The Roda Group, Marty Reed.

“From its early days we believed Axine had the potential to establish a new standard in wastewater treatment,” noted Tony Van Bommel, Senior Managing Partner of the BDC Venture Capital Energy/Cleantech Fund. “Axine is an example of a ‘best-in-class’ Canadian technology that is a global leader addressing an extremely large global market.”