Eco Investor October 2016

Unlisted Companies

Two Investments by Southern Cross Ventures

Southern Cross Venture Partners has made two new investments in unlisted companies: waste water technology innovator BioGill, and US$3 million in Geli, a supplier of design, automation, and management software for the energy storage industry.

Although the size of the investment in BioGill was not disclosed, Southern Cross Venture Partners coinvested with Soft Bank China Venture Capital (SBCVC). BioGill said it was a strategic investment and the largest single investment in its history. The capital is to underpin its expanding operations in the USA and China.

BioGill manufactures advanced biological bioreactors that can clean waste water in multiple industries. The bioreactors provide the ideal air and liquid conditions for microorganisms to grow and thrive, which effectively turbo charges nutrient removal from the water.

The technology was initially developed by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO), and is patented worldwide. The nano ceramic media also has the potential to grow microbes for use in the pharmaceutical industry and for use as fish and shrimp feed in the aquaculture industry.

BioGill bioreactors now treat wastewater onsite at wineries, breweries, candy producers, meat, food and beverage processors and in distributed sewage projects at tourist parks and resorts. The technology also provides a performance boost for existing wastewater treatment plants, with installations in the Philippines and Middle East.

BioGill is headquartered in Sydney and has a sales office in Singapore. It has exported its product to clients in seventeen countries in three continents, and says it is now positioned to claim a share of the global wastewater solution and service market that is valued at US$65 billion.

Executive chairman John West said this investment comes as the company is achieving key milestones such as ISO9001 accreditation and its recent selection by the Chinese Government as a Top 100 Environmental Technology to help address water pollution in China. Selection was by a panel of Chinese and foreign experts and academics who evaluated technologies against criteria such as innovation, performance effectiveness, cost, power usage and eco-friendliness. BioGill already has two distribution partners in China.

"With this investment we will rapidly expand our manufacturing and logistics hub in Shanghai and open a sales and distribution centre in the USA to provide technical and service support to our local distributor network," said Mr West.

Souther Cross managing director, Bob Christiansen, who has joined the BioGill board, said "BioGill represents an exciting opportunity for us to support an Australian company bringing important, Australian-developed technology to the global water treatment market. The company has already established an international market and is now poised to scale rapidly into this growing area."

SBCVC managing partner Alan Song said BioGill's global leading technologies can make wastewater treatment effective and affordable, and has huge market potential in regions with water problems, especially China. "We are very excited to see the great opportunity from the combination of the advanced technology and the very large market," he said.

Geli

Southern Cross' investment in Geli was through the Southern Cross Renewable Energy Venture Capital Fund (REVC) and was to enable the company to establish a subsidiary and open headquarters in Australia to expand its operations in the Asia-Pacific region. Geli is also backed by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and Softbank China Venture Capital (SBCVC).

Geli's platform enables industry players to quickly determine the optimal solar-plus-storage solution for different uses and automate systems in the field. Adding energy storage managed by Geli software to a solar PV system gives the ability to store and dispatch energy when it is needed most, such as at night or during periods of peak customer demand. According to Southern Cross, strong solar markets such as Australia and Hawaii have grid feed in tariff policies that favor the use of Geli's platform.

"The market pull for software solutions like Geli's is growing rapidly," said John Scull, managing director at Southern Cross REVC. "By virtue of being a pure-play software company, Geli is able to work with many of the most well-known names in the industry, enabling them to deliver solutions tailored to their clients' needs."

Dan Loflin, Geli's chief executive, said one of Geli's core differentiations is its ability to mix-and-match components from different suppliers and easily integrate new hardware and energy applications onto the Geli platform. This can boost returns. The company is now working with hundreds of project developers and hardware partners to help deliver best-in-class, scalable software solutions that provide customer savings and investor returns.

"This investment by Southern Cross REVC enables us to rapidly expand the breadth of integration partnerships with both hardware and software players," he said.

In April this year Geli completed a US$7 million Series A funding round led by a prominent clean energy investment office and Shell Technology Ventures, the venture division of Royal Dutch Shell.

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