Prediction Comes True! Miox Raises $19 Million

Follow the chatter.

A few weeks ago, we reported here that Miox, a company that’s devised a system to purify water with salt, was in the midst of raising a new round.

And today, the company said it pulled in $19 million to expand.

In Miox’s system, electricity converts salt into sodium hypochlorite and/or mixed oxidants, which then get injected into water. Salt electrolysis has been around for decades–bleach giant Clorox started this way. Miox, however, claims that its onsite equipment is more electrically efficient than conventional products and has been optimized to squeeze the benefits of putting mixed oxidants in water.

Using solids to disinfect has numerous advantages over standard pressurized chlorine gas or bleach. Delivering chlorine as salt cuts down on transportation and handling costs as well as improves plant safety, according to the company. Tests also show that it prevents fouling of membranes and pipes, which in turn reduces maintenance costs. Standard chlorine can also result in unwanted or dangerous chemical byproducts that have to be eliminated by further processes.

Several VCs have told me they love the concept of investing in water. There’s only a finite amount on the earth and demand is escalating. The tough part is finding good deals. Miox got $14.5 million in January. Halosource landed $11 million in July. The big cleantech IPO of the year so far has been Energy Recovery Inc., which makes an energy efficient desalination system.

The customer base can also be tricky. Municipal water districts are some of the big customers of this kind of equipment and they move at a glacial pace. Still, agribusiness buys a lot of water equipment.