Elbow Beach Capital Leads Seed Round into WASE

24 March 2022

 

Elbow Beach Capital, the decarbonisation, sustainability and social impact investor today announces its first investment, backing wastewater treatment and bioenergy company, WASE with an initial £400,000 investment, to be followed by a further £300,000, following closure of the oversubscribed Seedrs campaign. Receiving further support from the Science Angel Syndicate, and the European Union’s Climate-KIC’s investment support programme Found by Us, Funded by You, WASE has raised over £1 million.

Globally, over 80% of wastewater is left untreated and discharged into the environment, the equivalent of two million Olympic swimming pools of wastewater polluting our land and waterways every day. In addition, each year the UK alone sends 7.2 million tonnes of unavoidable food waste to landfill which releases greenhouse gases into the environment as it decomposes. WASE’s aim is to drive the food and drinks industry towards carbon neutrality by unlocking the power of waste and making it the fuel of the future.

WASE’s industriWASE systems use a proprietary electro-methanogenic process which will enable food and drinks manufacturers, including Hepworth, Hobsons, and Forest Road Brewing to treat their wastewater and unavoidable food waste and in turn produce renewable energy onsite, providing up to 90% of their energy demands. With over 300,000 SME food and drink manufacturers in the UK and EU alone facing significant legislative and consumer pressure for sustainable produce, the potential uptake of WASE’s solutions is significant. WASE will initially target the UK brewery sector, as breweries can produce up to ten pints of wastewater per pint of beer.

Funds raised this round will go towards installing a commercial industriWASE Biocentre system at Hepworth Brewery, progressing WASE’s sales pipeline, increasing R&D spend and supporting key hires across the commercial, research, engineering and finance teams. Ultimately, WASE aims to install over 1000 systems in the next five years, generating over 500 gigawatt hours of renewable energy and saving over 140,000 tonnes of carbon.

Jon Pollock, CEO of Elbow Beach Capital: “From day one, we’ve been incredibly impressed by both WASE’s technology and the expert team that Thomas has assembled. We are firm believers in greening up from within industry and WASE’s technology is a perfect example of this. We look forward to working closely with WASE to rapidly commercialise this pioneering technology”

Dr. Thomas Fudge, CEO of WASE: “We are thrilled to have Elbow Beach Capital lead WASE’s latest funding round, and it has been a pleasure to work with Jon and his team and to learn about their ambitions to help grow the next generation of businesses creating a sustainable future.”

“We are excited to start this journey with Elbow Beach onboard, so together, we can unlock the power of waste to make it the fuel of the future,” added Thomas.

Jon Pollock has joined WASE’s board of directors with immediate effect.