• Routrek Networks

  Led · Series A · Jan 2017

  Routrek develops sensing, IoT, and automation solutions for agriculture, centered on its Zero.agri product. Zero.agri is designed to optimize and automate irrigation and fertilization. The company is described as Japanese and focuses on precision agricultural automation. Routrek raised $3.46 million in a Series B to support its Zero.agri offering. Investors in the round include Oisix, a corporate fund run by sensor manufacturers Omron and Ricoh, and Globis Capital Partners. No operating metrics or prior funding rounds are disclosed in the article.

• Byte Foods

  Led · Seed · Dec 2016

  Byte Foods builds internet-connected refrigerated vending machines paired with a delivery service that stocks them with nutritious food and drinks from local vendors. Its machines use RFID-tagged items, touchscreen menus, and card readers, and Byte has developed software to predict demand, manage relationships with over 1,000 vendors, and enable dynamic pricing. The founders, married cofounders Lee and Megan Mokri, rebranded from their prior meal-delivery business 180 Eats and in May acquired Pantry Retail Inc. in an all-stock deal. Byte plans to saturate the San Francisco Bay Area with more refrigerators and temperature-controlled delivery trucks while developing features such as opt-in deals, samples, and sale alerts. The company says customers and corporations can use its software to subsidize meals and track aggregate snacking data. Byte raised a $5.5 million seed round to fund growth initiatives and reduce delivery costs via increased route density.

• Desalitech

  Led · Equity · Dec 2014

  Desalitech provides high-efficiency water production and wastewater treatment solutions built around its ReFlex reverse osmosis products featuring patented Closed Circuit Desalination (CCD™) technology. ReFlex systems reduce water waste by 50–75% and energy consumption by up to 35%, and the company guarantees maximum recovery. Desalitech serves industrial, agricultural and wastewater reuse applications and has signed deals with Veolia, Coca‑Cola and other Fortune 500 clients. Its technology increases reliability and flexibility while lowering total treatment costs by around 60%. The company is headquartered in Newton, MA and manufactures its products in the USA. In 2014 Desalitech reported nearly six years of operating performance and has expanded a global project footprint, including work in drought‑impacted California. The company intends to use new funding to accelerate growth and strengthen its market position. Desalitech's core product is its patented Closed Circuit Desalination (CCD™) platform, which reinvents reverse osmosis by recycling concentrate to achieve much higher recovery rates and lower energy use. The company says CCD lowers costs by 20–60%, has achieved over 97% recovery versus ~75% for conventional RO, and can desalinate seawater at about 1.5 kWh/m3 compared with 2–3 kWh/m3 for state-of-the-art RO. CCD systems target industrial water and effluent treatment, agricultural water supply and inland brackish desalination, and the company sells complete systems or offers Build Own Operate (BOO) arrangements. Desalitech holds more than 80 patents worldwide and reports commercial CCD installations running continuously for over four years. The company plans to use new funding to accelerate growth and strengthen its position as a supplier of high-recovery, low-cost industrial water-treatment solutions. Financially, the company has raised over $13 million to date following the latest equity funding. Desalitech commercializes a CCD™ platform that reduces water-treatment cost by 20% or more through lower energy use, reduced capital costs, higher recoveries and greatly reduced brine waste. The company productizes CCD as packaged-plant solutions available as capital equipment sales or outsourced water-treatment services and says the technology can be retrofitted into existing RO facilities. Desalitech partners with leading water-treatment suppliers to deploy its systems across industrial, municipal, brackish and seawater desalination and wastewater reuse applications. Management says the firm is prepared to recruit top performers and scale to become a major provider in North America and globally. Financially, Desalitech secured a $6.25M equity investment to expand the business and support working capital; the lead investor will also provide project finance capital to enable a service-oriented model. The company reports over 75 granted patents on the technology and commercial CCD installations that have run continuously for more than three years.

• Nanomech

  Participated · Series B · Sep 2014

  NanoMech develops heavily patented nano-engineered lubricants, chemistries, coatings and finishes for industrial and consumer applications. The company highlights broad market use across energy, transportation, industrial, retail and strategic military sectors, and says it has iconic multi‑national customers and recurring product adoption. NanoMech is an ISO 9001:2015 certified manufacturer focused on scalable nanomanufacturing platform technologies and swift product development. Management states the company is strengthening its balance sheet to position for sustainable long-term growth. The firm intends to use financing to repay certain debt and to provide working capital to accelerate growth of its proprietary nanoscale engineering and manufacturing technologies. NanoMech emphasizes its products solve friction, wear and corrosion challenges to improve durability, efficiency, performance and sustainability. NanoMech develops advanced products using nanotechnology for industrial and mechanical applications, including lubricants, coatings and specialty chemicals. Its solutions have driven step changes in performance, efficiency, and reliability across energy, transportation, aerospace, manufacturing, automotive, agricultural equipment and military sectors. The company has validated and commercialized innovations with several Fortune 100 and emerging companies and completed scale-up of its smart factory and labs. NanoMech’s platform technologies include nGlide, GuardX, TuffTek and nGuard. The company says it will use new capital and the SAEV relationship to expand global reach, invest in additional sales and marketing resources, and increase investment in its market-leading nanotechnology platforms. NanoMech has received industry recognition, including an R&D 100 Award and two Edison Awards, and participates in U.S. manufacturing and materials initiatives. NanoMech develops patented platform nanomanufacturing technologies and ships nano-engineered products globally to Fortune 100 companies and emerging firms. Its core commercial platforms include nGlide, TuffTek, and nGuard, alongside breakthroughs such as a cubic boron nitride coating and advanced nano-engineered lubricants. The company plans to use new capital to expand global reach, grow sales and marketing resources, and increase investment in its nanotechnology platforms and intellectual property. NanoMech is finalizing a 25,000 sq. ft. production expansion that will triple current operations and serve as its world headquarters, and it purchased an adjacent 7.3-acre tract to create a contiguous 9-acre campus. Management highlights recent issuance of core patents in the U.S. and several international offices and multiple product awards (R&D 100, Edison, Tibbetts) as validation of its technology and commercialization progress. NanoMech was founded in 2002 and operates from Northwest Arkansas.

• Renovate America

  Participated · Equity · Jul 2014

  Renovate America is a San Diego-based provider of tech-enabled financing for home improvements and commercial retrofits. Its flagship product, HERO, is a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing program that lets homeowners pay for improvements over time via a voluntary additional line item on their property taxes. Since launching over 5½ years ago, HERO has been used to make energy and efficiency improvements across more than 100,000 homes in California and Missouri and recently became available in Florida, where it can finance hurricane-protection improvements such as impact-resistant windows. The company also offers Benji, an unsecured lending product for home improvements. Renovate America closed a $40m multi-year credit facility provided by ING Capital LLC to bolster liquidity, diversify its funding profile and support continued HERO expansion. The company intends to use the funds to expand HERO and strengthen its financial position. Renovate America administers the HERO PACE program, which finances residential solar PV and energy-efficiency improvements through special liens on property rather than on individuals. The company has expanded HERO across California and into Missouri and Florida and says the program has served more than 100,000 homes in California and Missouri. It recently announced availability to an additional 129,000 homes in Missouri. PACE historically filled a financing gap for residential solar before retail banks developed more loan products, though PACE remains unavailable in all 50 states. Renovate America is using new funding to further expand the HERO program. The company provided limited detail on specific uses of the funding but said the facility would bolster liquidity and diversify its funding profile. Renovate America provides financing for residential property-assessed clean energy loan programs through its HERO program and also offers consumer loan products for home improvements. The company is headquartered in San Diego and announced a $100 million credit facility with Credit Suisse. That facility will enable Renovate America to expand Benji, its unsecured consumer home-improvement loan product. Benji is marketed to “well-qualified” borrowers seeking to finance home improvements. Renovate America’s HERO program has financed more than $2.1 billion of home improvements through partnerships with local governments. The company is using debt financing to grow its consumer-facing product line while maintaining its municipal partnership lending business. Renovate America provides PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing to homeowners through its HERO (Home Energy Renovation Opportunity) program, partnering with local governments and businesses. The company offers a suite of software products and training services that assist local contractors, including workforce training, business automation tools, and consumer protection services. HERO finances a wide variety of DOE- and EPA-approved products, including solar power, energy-efficient HVAC, windows, roofing, water capture systems, and artificial turf. HERO financing requires home equity, offers no money down, and provides fixed interest rates for up to 20 years. Renovate America says it will use the new funds to expand its geographic presence. Since 2011 the program has helped more than 38,000 homeowners in 347 cities and counties, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose, Fresno and others. Renovate America provides the HERO Financing Program through partnerships with local municipalities to offer residential PACE financing. Property owners use the program to finance solar, energy-efficient HVAC, windows, roofing, and water-saving products such as artificial turf. The company supplies funding, administration, technology, training, customer support and a full-service call center that assists contractors and property owners with the application and approval process. Renovate America has financed over $250 million in HERO residential energy-efficient improvement projects to date. The HERO program has been adopted by more than 165 California cities, including San Diego, San Jose, Riverside, Anaheim, Fresno and San Bernardino. The business is led by CEO JP McNeill and Executive VP Scott McKinlay.

No current team members are available.