VANCOUVER, B.C.— Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc., developer and marketer of proprietary technologies that recover resources from wastewater and recycle them into valuable products, announced today the completion of a U.S. $10.5 million private equity financing.
The financing was led by VantagePoint Venture Partners, a leading international CleanTech investor based in Silicon Valley. Also participating was Foursome Investments Limited, a London-based venture investor that focuses on environmental and clean technology.
Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc. was founded in 2005. The Company’s lead technology platform removes phosphorus and other pollutants from wastewater and recycles them into environmentally safe commercial fertilizer. The Company’s first commercial-scale plant began operation in Edmonton, Alberta in 2007. The Company’s first commercial-scale plant in the U.S. will begin operating in the spring of 2009 at the Durham Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility in metropolitan Portland, Oregon.
Phillip Abrary, President and CEO of Ostara, said the financing will enable the Company to accelerate the commercialization of its technology to municipalities, ethanol biofuel plants and food processing plants in the U.S. and Canada at which successful field trials have already been completed. As many as 400 municipalities and industrial plants in North America and 500 in Europe are potential customers for the Ostara process.
“Over the past year, we have successfully demonstrated in a large commercial plant that our process handles sewage sludge liquids in a way that reduces operating costs, increases overall plant capacity, complies with environmental regulations and produces revenue from byproduct,” said Abrary. “This equity investment from VantagePoint and Foursome will enable us to increase the pace of our deployment at additional wastewater treatment plants.”
“In addition, our ability to attract such world-class leading clean technology investors as VantagePoint and Foursome Investments Limited provides significant validation of our technology and business objectives,” Abrary said.
“We are enthusiastic about Ostara’s unique technology process as it takes waste from one industry and turns it into a high value product for another industry. This kind of technology is a great example of the kind of innovation that will define successful enterprises of the 21st century,” said Rafael Simon, Venture Partner and new member of the Ostara Board of Directors.
“We are very excited about this investment and are looking forward to working with Phillip and his team”, said Lydia Whyatt, Managing Director of Foursome Investments Ltd. “Nutrient recovery from waste streams is a key investment theme at Foursome, and we believe that Ostara has an excellent opportunity to become a major global player in the phosphorus recovery market.”
About Ostara
Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc., founded in 2005, is a Vancouver-based company commercializing proprietary technologies that recover resources from wastewater and recycle them into valuable products. Ostara's struvite recovery process, developed at the University of British Columbia (UBC), recovers pollutants that would otherwise be released into the environment, helps wastewater treatment plants reduce operating costs and meet environmental regulations, and provides municipalities and utilities with revenue from the sale of the recovered pollutants that are recycled into environmentally safe slow-release fertilizer, Crystal Green®. For more information: visit www.ostara.com and www.crystalgreen.com.
About VantagePoint Venture Partners
VantagePoint Venture Partners is a leader in investing in 21st Century technologies and partners with entrepreneurs in the CleanTech, Healthcare and Information Technology sectors. With a large investment team of experts, a broad network of strategic partners and advisors, and more than $4.5 billion in committed capital, the Firm has the depth of resources to help build transformative companies that are clear leaders in their categories. The Silicon Valley firm has investments in more than 70 companies. For more information visit www.vpvp.com.