Why We Invested: Livestock Water Recycling (THRIVE V)
You can imagine the puzzled and slightly uncertain look we shared as both Teddy Bekele (CTO of Land O’Lakes) and I each grabbed a glass of water and begrudgingly chugged it down. Only, this was no ordinary water — this water originated from cow manure and was filtered and cleaned using Livestock Water Recycling’s (LWR) special manure treatment system. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the LWR water did not taste any different from other sources, including tap, filtered or even bottled water. After all, manure is typically known to be a potentially dangerous waste product and not normally used in consumer products.
A few weeks ago, we announced the 5th cohort of the THRIVE Accelerator program. Over the past decade, SVG Ventures-THRIVE has had the privilege of working with and investing in truly transformational AgTech companies, from Trace Genomics to Nuritas to Arable to Agrosmart. Today, we want to shine a spotlight on one of our new portfolio companies: Livestock Water Recycling, which is slightly ironic since the founder Karen Schuett has made it a habit of hiding from the spotlight herself. LWR, based in Alberta, Canada, is a first-class global manufacturer of manure treatment systems that provides hog, dairy and anaerobic digester operations with patented manure treatment technology to recycle clean water and fertilizer nutrients from livestock manure for reuse at the farm. In essence, LWR creates value for the food production industry by reducing the expense and environmental impact of waste liquids. We are thrilled about the partnership and wanted to share some thoughts on why we made the investment.
LWR fits in with one of SVG’s core investment themes: advancing the future of agriculture production to help create a more secure food production ecosystem.
We invest almost exclusively in transformational agrifood technologies as you can see in our portfolio graphic below.
So what have we learned from our past investments? One of the biggest problems that farmers, growers and other food producers around the world are facing is resource management — specifically water shortages created by droughts and climate change and nutrient waste from byproducts. Over the years, it has become clear that many farmers are seeing low productivity that is made worse by climate change. Droughts and water scarcity have a significant impact on food production. Crops need water to grow and we need crops to flourish in order to keep up with a fast-growing global population that is projected to hit 10B people by the year 2050. According to the International Water Management Institute, agriculture, which accounts for about 70% of global water withdrawals, is constantly competing with domestic, industrial and environmental uses for a scarce water supply. In attempts to fix this ever growing problem, many have tried, with lukewarm results, to develop alternative water management solutions. Livestock Water Recycling’s process can extract up to 75% of the water content from manure while simultaneously segregating and extracting key nutrients such as organic nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and ammonia to reuse as a concentrated dry solid fertilizer. On a dairy farm, water can be reused for activities such as flushing lanes, irrigating crops or cleaning a milking parlor, among other things. An increase in agriculture production will be driven on the ground by recycling scarce resources and improving seed and fertilizer use and LWR is leading the charge.
We also love LWR’s team and think they are uniquely positioned to scale the technology and the company.
Co-Founder and CEO Karen Schuett, is an industry veteran with 25 years of experience in the design, fabrication and installation of in-situ remediation systems across Canada and the US. Her experience in oil and water remediation and background in manufacturing groundwater treatment systems are particularly relevant as she works with corporates, governments and clients to continue iterating on and perfecting the LWR product. Her Co-Founder Ross Thurston is also an AgTech veteran with decades of experience in the water treatment industry. The rolodex of AgTech contacts he has developed over the years will be instrumental in LWR’s goal to reach a global scale. We also noticed that the founders have built up a stacked team across all critical areas of a business from engineering, marketing, finance/accounting and even HR, showing a commitment to scaling this company long-term. Being subject matter experts and veterans in the waste management and resource recycling industries, Karen and Ross understand the deep rooted pain points of their key user base and have incredible founder-market fit.
Ultimately, we love supporting scrappy entrepreneurs with a great product who are invested in social impact.
As investors, we’re trying to find founders who think at scale and whom we think are truly transforming the industry. LWR is an agricultural game-changer. Their sustainability-centric approach and their focus on achieving optimized production, maximizing crop yields and creating a high ROI for farmers is what has us convinced that they will truly be able to help the world minimize the environmental impact of the food production process.
We are excited to embark on this chapter of growth with Karen and Ross. If you are a cow or pig farmer that wants to increase crop yields, reduce manure expenses, and recycle waste products into reusable resources, check out Livestock Water Recycling!
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Jonathan runs the THRIVE AgTech Accelerator for SVG Ventures, where he empowers, supports and invests in early-stage, growth-driven startups that are using technology to advance the future of food and agriculture. Jonathan was also selected as part of the 2019 AgGrad 30 Under 30 class in the entrepreneurship category and his accelerator won “Most Valuable AgriFood Tech Accelerator Program” at the AgFunder Innovation Awards. Jonathan has a BA in history from Rice University and an MBA from the Cornell University — Johnson Graduate School of Management.
