Shawn Meyer-Steele, Oneka’s new CCO
The entire Oneka team is extremely pleased to welcome Shawn Meyer-Steele as Chief Commercial Officer.
Wave-Powered Desalination Innovator Oneka Technologies Secures a first tranche of CA$12.5M for its Series A Funding Led by Hoffecker and Prominent Impact Investors
September 20, 2023 — Oneka Technologies (“Oneka”) a leading provider of wave-powered desalination solutions, is proud to announce today the closing of its main Series A equity round of financing with CA$12.5M investment led by the Hoffecker Family and other leading family offices, venture funds and private angel investors namely, Horizon Capital Holdings, AQC Capital, the Wilson Family, Propulia Capital and Invest Nova Scotia.
In the context of a more challenging fund-raising environment for startups, the closing of this round of financing represents a clear shift of investor interest for unique and credible climate tech solutions and a testimony to Oneka’s commercial readiness and proven alternative to the relatively more polluting and energy intensive conventional desalination industry offering.
“As an impact investor and philanthropist, we have been searching for innovative water solutions which could address at large scale the global and growing issue of water access. We have been won over by Dragan Tutic’s ambition and leadership, and the world-class team he has been able to assemble to position Oneka as a future leader in the sustainable desalination space.” said Ira and Matthias Hoffecker.
Considering the significant level of interest by the community of Impact investors, Oneka is leaving the round open until the end of the year and accepting up to CA$10M of additional capital from accredited investors who could add value to our company beyond capital.
Dragan Tutic, Founder & CEO of Oneka : “My team and I are proud to welcome our new investors who share similar values and ambitions. This investment that enables us to have the means of our ambition is received with great responsibility and will effectively be put to use to accelerate our progress toward our mission.”
“We are looking forward to benefiting from our investors’ expertises and networks to generate positive social and environmental impacts alongside significant return for our shareholders.” said Alain-Olivier Desbois, Chief Finance & Impact Officer.
Taking into account the ability and capacity of Oneka’s team to deliver its acceleration plan, this additional injection of capital will support a faster deployment of its solutions to match the growing demand for desalination solutions in many regions around the globe.
This Series A round of financing also leverages CA$20M in grant programs confirmed earlier this year with Ocean Supercluster (OSC), Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) and the US Department of Energy (DOE). This financial support and equity financing totaling CA$32.5M will enable Oneka to complete the development of its suite of products to serve all segments of the market and client types, from small disaster relief applications to utility-scale units to accommodate larger cities and industries using large amounts of water.
The growth of the desalination industry has contributed to climate change by increasing fossil-based energy use which in turn increases water scarcity, the very problem the industry set out to solve. At its current growth rate, the desalination industry will contribute to over 1 billion tons of CO2e emissions per year by 2050, more than twice the emissions of the aviation sector in 2019. With its wave-powered desalination technology, Oneka will allow the desalination industry to grow its output sustainably, without marginal CO2e emissions.
Local communities are more and more impacted by climate change, which affects their access to freshwater and capacity to sustain their own living and economic development. These communities are seeking affordable, reliable and easy to operate solutions working in synergy to protect their environment and local biodiversity.
“Our investment and confidence in Oneka is born from our experience in growing companies and helping entrepreneurs achieve their goals. Additionally, through our ownership of the CSL Group, a global maritime transportation and logistics company, whose focus on sustainability is at the core of our operations and our partnerships with our customers, we understand how Oneka’s desalination products provide mining companies and remote coastal communities with the most cost competitive and, as importantly, climate and ecosystem friendly solutions.” – said David Martin, President and CEO of Horizon Capital Holdings.
This funding will empower Oneka Technologies to deliver several commercial projects to fruition, with a primary focus on locations along the Pacific coast of the United States and Chile. It will also enable the company to grow its manufacturing, R&D, sales and project management teams as it scales to utility and industrial markets.
“AQC Capital has been a great believer and supporter of Oneka’s solution to fresh water access issues. We have witnessed Dragan and his team’s milestone achievements and market recognition growing over the years confirming our investment thesis. This significant reinvestment by our fund in this round of financing confirms that a long-term patient capital approach can be rewarded in the climate tech sector even for early-stage VC type fund.” – reported Stéphane Caron, Partner at AQC Capital.
About Horizon Capital Holdings
Horizon is the office of the Martin family. Based in Montreal, it is a broad-based investment and management organization providing diversification to the Family’s core holding Canada Steamship Lines, a global maritime transportation and logistics company. Horizon provides growth capital to well established businesses led by outstanding management. Its portfolio includes North American real estate and direct investments in private companies in various industries including food, healthcare, financial services and retail.
About AQC Capital
AQC Capital is a venture capital firm supporting startups in the earliest stages. The fund invests in companies in all sectors that seek to bring disruptive innovation to global markets. AQC Capital partners with Anges Québec, the largest angel investor network in Canada, and together they bring smart capital to the startups they back.
For more information about AQC, please visit www.aqccapital.ca
About Oneka Technologies
Founded in 2015, Oneka harnesses wave power to produce fresh water with zero greenhouse gas emissions, zero land use and discharging only responsible brine, using modular proprietary desalination solutions. Suitable for local communities, resorts, industrial and mining operations, Oneka’s wave-powered sustainable desalination solutions can produce affordable clean water with no pollution and eliminating a costly and unpredictable fuel supply chain. Oneka is headquartered in Sherbrooke (QC), with operations in Halifax (NS), in Fort Pierce (FL) and in Algarrobo (Chile). Oneka has two demonstration sites and is now commercializing its IceCube and Iceberg units.
For more information on Oneka’s: Sea water desalination technology
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Media & Other Inquiries
Camille St-Pierre, Commercial Manager at Oneka Technologies
+1-819-485-0335, ext. 711
