NuLeaf Tech Inc.

Affordable Water Recycling Systems

Company Information

Website:

https://www.nuleaftech.com/

Sector:

Biotechnology

Location:

Cupertino, CA

NuLeaf Tech is a bio-tech company that’s developing affordable, modular water recycling systems.

By combining three technologies, the company’s patent-pending systems do two things:

1. Remove more than 90% of contaminants in wastewater.
2. Recycle water for reuse in cleaning and irrigation.

With this system, NuLeaf Tech is targeting the $91 billion water treatment and recycling market.

Generally speaking, effective water treatment is available only at a large scale. As a result, more than 80% of the world’s water is not adequately treated, and less than 1% is recycled.

According to the World Economic Forum, water will be one of the most significant societal problems over the next decade. Current treatment systems are massive in size, can cost millions of dollars, and are intended to serve large treatment plants.

Currently, there isn't an easy-to-use, modular, affordable technology that can treat and recycle water at any scale. NuLeaf is developing a solution to this problem.

The company has completed an initial prototype, which combines the system’s three base technologies: engineered wetlands, microbial fuels cells, and vertical hydroponic farming. Now, the company is working on the second prototype, which combines all of these technologies into a vertical, tree-shaped design called the NuTree.

NuLeaf has won several awards in the U.S. and Europe, including an award at the European Forum of Industrial Biotechnology conference in 2018, and VERGE 2018. In addition, the company completed RebelBio 2017, a life sciences accelerator program.

Each NuTree stands 2 meters high, and can treat 300 gallons of water per day. According to NuLeaf, 300 gallons is approximately an average household’s daily water usage.

The water treatment starts when polluted water enters the engineered wetland basin. Engineered wetlands are constructed ecosystems that use naturally occurring plants and microbes to clean wastewater in industries such as agriculture and coal mining. Essentially, this process detoxifies the water, and transforms the waste into nutrient-rich water, resulting in food for other plants and microbes.

Next, the water passes to its microbial fuel cells. These use the electrogenic metabolism of wetland microbes to create electricity. This is used to power the system.

Finally, water is pumped up the center pipe to the top of the system. The water then flows down the spiral, which is a vertical hydroponic farming attachment.

Hyrdoponic farming is the process of growing plants in a liquid medium without soil. It increases crop yield and reduces water usage. The uptake of nutrients in both the fuel cells and the farming attachment make the water even cleaner. Once cleaned, the water can be recirculated back into the system, or piped off for reuse.

Each NuTree system is projected to cost less than $10,000. Revenue is expected to come from a mixture of products and services. Products will include the units and accessories such as plant nets for vertical farming and plant nutrient packets. Services will include wastewater consultations, construction, and maintenance.

In order to introduce its product to the market, NuLeaf is initially focusing on privately-owned breweries, specifically ones in the Pacific Northwest and Colorado.

The company is targeting the craft beer market for several reasons — for example:

According to company research, the market for industrial treatment of water is expected to increase by 50% in the next five years, with the Food & Beverage sector (which includes breweries) leading the way…

Water can be as much as 15% of a brewery’s operating expenses…

Available, on-site treatment for breweries starts between $100,000 and $200,000…

And breweries pay more than twice as much per gallon as other industries such as pharmaceuticals and dairy.

The NuTree can remove 90% of brewery wastewater contaminants, cutting a brewer’s fees by 50% or more. In some cases, the return on investment for breweries can be less than a year.

In 2017, two breweries in the UK and California signed paid letters of intent for NuLeaf’s pilot program. NuLeaf plans to launch a full pilot program with 6 to 10 breweries by mid-2019 and make its systems scalable by late 2019 or early 2020.

The company’s current customer acquisition cost (CAC) is between $50 and $300 based on prices needed to attract breweries to its pilot program. An increase in the company’s sales/marketing budget will allow it to raise its CAC to $1,000 to $1,500. However, NuLeaf estimates each customer’s lifetime value is roughly $90,000 to $110,000 over 10 years.

Following success in the craft beer industry, NuLeaf plans to target its product toward areas such as agriculture and urban farming.

Team Background

Ari Ochoa - Co-Founder & CTO

Ari started NuLeaf Tech out of a lifelong interest in microbiology.

He is a self-taught microbiologist, and grew up in a wetlands area near the Bay Area.

In his spare time, Ari is a homebrewer, and is familiar with the process of both making beer and the craft beer industry’s struggle with wastewater.

He earned a degree in Biology from Foothill College.

Rachel Major - Co-Founder & CEO

Before starting NuLeaf Tech, Rachel served as a student researcher at the NASA Ames Research Center. While there, she focused on areas including biology, chemistry, and nanotechnology.

She previously served as an applications engineering intern with Coherent, a global supplier of industrial laser solutions.

In addition, she served as an intern at the Academy of Natural Sciences’ Geochemical Department.

Rachel earned a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Drexel University and a certificate in General Management from Stanford School of Business.

Co-Investors

SOSV

$250M venture capital fund focused on accelerating over 150 startups every year. Portfolio companies include Leap Motion and Harmonix.

Raising
$650K
Committed
$129.464K (20%)
Current Valuation
$2.25 million
Min. Investment
$1000
Deal Type
Title III
(For all investors)
Offering Type
Equity
Finance History
  • $100K
    2017-04-08
    Unknown
Notable Investors
  • SOSV
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