In the UK, organic waste treatment technology startup WASE Ltd has announced that it has secured £8.5 million to unlock the power of waste. The round was led by Extantia Capital, with participation from Hitachi Ventures, WEPA Ventures, the family venture capital firm of the European multigenerational family business WEPA, and Engie New Ventures, the CVC arm of the global energy company ENGIE.
Other investors include Elbow Beach Capital and Empirical Ventures. The round includes £2.4 million in non-dilutive funding.
The round earmarks funds for WASE to scale operations and execute multi-million pounds of signed contracts and projects with customers while it builds out its product offering.
The investment is crucial in the next stage of the Company’s scale-up strategy and the delivery of its proprietary Electro-Methanogenic Reactor (EMR) technology to customers.
Our investors see the versatility of our technology. From maximizing the recovery of biogas from organic matter in wastewater to ensuring anaerobic digestion plants get the highest yields. We want our technology to set a new standard in the waste treatment and energy sectors, by not only optimizing waste breakdown but by boosting methane production across the board. We’re seeing a future of Waste-to-Energy that maximizes economic and environmental benefits for all players involved, and we aim to play a major part in this transition by becoming leaders in the biogas market. Extantia and ENGIE, who deeply understand this sector, and all the investors supporting us in this round, will be invaluable resources to help us achieve this, said Thomas Fudge, Founder, and CEO of WASE.
More biogas, faster and with a smaller footprint
According to WASE, its EMR units increase biogas generation by 30 percent, up to ten times faster than conventional anaerobic digestion (AD).
The tech also increases the methane content of the raw biogas to more than 80 percent compared to AD where methane contents of 50-60 percent are more typical.
WASE’s approach doesn’t just increase biogas and biomethane yields from the AD process, making it more profitable and productive, it is reshaping the way industrial businesses are thinking about their resources. We think their cutting-edge technology, the know-how they have built-in commercializing their wastewater solutions, their existing supplier relationships, and their capital-efficient approach positions them well ahead of competitors in this space – and we’re delighted to support them, said Carlota Ochoa Neven Du Mont, Principal at Extantia.
The plug-and-play system fits into existing infrastructure and is 50-70 percent smaller than what is currently available.
The modular solution allows customization, making it much easier for companies to deploy at their site, resulting in more energy production and lower costs in the long run.
ENGIE has the ambition to develop 10 TWh per year of biomethane production capacity in Europe by 2030. We want to accelerate the energy transition and strengthen Europe’s sovereignty. This participation in WASE is a concrete step to deploy innovative technology onto the market and to allow greater efficiency and competitiveness, said Camille Bonenfant-Jeanneney, Managing Director of ENGIE Renewable Gases Europe.
