Water. Desalination + reuse
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1056083
Simon Marshall, the new chief executive of PolyCera Membranes, cuts a steady and relaxed figure as he weaves through the morning rush-hour traffic in Los Angeles, California. It's not until the return journey that his appetite for risk takes me by surprise. S imon Marshall, chief executive of PolyCera Membranes, cuts a steady and relaxed figure in his super-size SUV as he weaves through the Los Angeles traffic. It's 7am and we're at the start of a three-hour-long trip north, up Route 5, through the tinder-dry mountains of Los Padres National Forest to Wasco, to visit an installation of his technology. It's not until the return leg of our journey that Marshall's appetite for risk takes me by surprise. For now Marshall is outlining his strategic vision for the company. PolyCera completed a round of Series A funding worth $9 million in June, and has an ambitious outlook. The funding was led by Kairos Ventures, with follow on capital from Bluestem Capital and the Wolfen Group, enti - ties that also invest in PolyCera's former parent company Water Planet. Eric Hoek, founder and chief executive of Water Planet, is chairman of PolyCera's board. And water industry veteran and billionaire Richard "Dick" Heck - mann - who made his money growing and in 1999 selling US Filter for $8.2 billion, and is part-owner of the Arizona National Basketball Association (NBA) team Phoenix Suns - joined as a board director in June (see overleaf). The backstory goes that Hollywood A-lister Kevin Kost- ner enlisted Hoek following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, to commercialise a separation technology in which the star had invested to support the clean up. Hoek, and colleagues Subir Bhattacharjee and Richard Kaner, at University of California, Los Angeles, began developing it further and by 2010, when Deepwater Horizon, the world's biggest oil spill, hit the Gulf of Mexico, they applied it to separating crude oil from ocean water. The knowledge, skills and relationships that grew during that period later formed the core of Water Planet. On message So what is Marshall's pitch? With a background in business development, including a spell at Severn Trent Services in the UK, and three years as a partner at water industry con- sultants Amane Advisors, it's with a certain ease that he trips the product benefits off his tongue: PolyCera's unique and patented material offers the "robustness of a ceramic product minus the high price-tag"; it's "back-washable", delivers "high sustainable flux operation", with "fouling tolerance", and "ease of cleaning" - in short, everything you might wish to hear from a new player in the membrane market. (For more product details, see page 32.) By now we December 2018 Water. desalination + reuse Interview 9 Simon Marshall's former roles include a spell at Severn Trent Services in the UK, and three years as partner at Amane Advisors PolyCera completed a round of Series A funding worth $9 million in June - and it has an ambitous outlook