Like many people, Doug Speight, former executive director of Durham's startup community American Underground, considered the direction his career would take when the world slowed down due to COVID-19.
“With COVID-19, we were facing our own mortality every day,” Speight said. “Rather than just developing another enterprise software or platform, we realized we wanted to focus on things that were more valuable to society as a whole.”
So when Speight, a serial entrepreneur, had the opportunity to become CEO of AxNano, a technology startup that treats water contaminated by PFAS chemicals, it was a natural fit.
Founded in 2011, AxNano is a post-launch early commercialization research and development services startup headquartered in Greensboro, but Speight remains based in the Triangle. He will present his AxNano story at CED's Venture Connect summit in Raleigh on March 20-21.
AxNano has two products that work together. The first product is a transfer system that concentrates PFAS chemicals from contaminated water bodies, and the second product allows the chemicals to be easily destroyed.
The second product destroys 99.99 percent of PFAS chemicals in concentrate water. The client has the option of either transporting the concentrated water to his second product for PFAS destruction or bringing the product to the site if he has utilities to support it.
After passing through both AxNano products, the contaminated water safely returns to the body of water it came from, but it is not suitable for drinking.
AxNano provides the system to clients, but clients must provide their own labor to collect and concentrate the water. The first product costs about $200,000, while the second product costs about $3 million.
The startup has a customer base led by the Army and Air Force, and leases its products on a long-term basis. Speed said the government has allocated a $6.4 million government contract to provide this type of technology, and Axnano recently awarded a $2 million contract with the Army to provide two products. Ta.
A key reason AxNano beat out competitors for large Army and Air Force contracts is because it started by improving on products that were developed and tested with military funds.
“Importantly for us, by introducing products developed using military funding, we have this unique opportunity to leapfrog the early development stages of technology commercialization,” Speight said. . “This allows us to focus on how to quickly optimize and deploy these technologies in the field.”
Funding from venture capitalists also contributed to AxNano's success. The startup has raised $3 million from 13 investors. Many of these investors are from the Triad, most notably Dennis Stearns, founder of Greensboro-based Stearns Financial Group.
Speed said it is in the process of raising an additional $10 million to $12 million to help AxNano scale and fulfill some of its recently signed contracts. AxNano's immediate priority is to ensure that it is in a position to fulfill the contracts it has secured to date. Subsequently, this startup aims to expand to more commercial customers after fulfilling their contracts, he embarked on the development of two new products.
Speight said the new product will essentially be faster, smaller and cheaper than the current product. He said the new marketing strategy, complemented by new products, will aim to attract customers in commercial areas such as waste management and Shamrock Environmental.
The ultimate goal is to be acquired by one of these companies and give AxNano access to their distribution network.
“There are a lot of big companies in this waste management field.” […] “These companies are starting to invest in startups and early-stage technologies that they can eventually integrate into larger companies,” Speight said. “So we want to build stronger relationships with strategic investors in preparation for downstream acquisitions.”
