Loowatt

Idea

Introduction

Did you know that two thirds of the population doesn't have access to a sewered toilet network, with poor sanitation contributing to an estimated 1.6 million deaths each year?

Poor sanitation reflects a widespread health crisis, but also has a severe socio-economic impact - more than £150 billion GDP is lost every year due to health care costs, decreased income and productivity.

Here at Loowatt, our patented toilet with its revolutionary waterless flush seals waste hygienically away and is the starting point for Loowatt's unique closed-loop processing system. Working closely with local utility partners, waste is safely collected and treated, and is then transformed into biogas to generate electricity and heat while capturing nutrients for organic fertiliser.

Our toilets and energy from waste processing can be used for both domestic and commercial off-grid applications, without chemicals and without water – protecting both people and planet with every flush.

Substantial accomplishments to date

Proven Competitive Advantage

· Outperfomed one of the world’s largest toilet manufacturers in rigorous pilot of non-sewered toilets led by a major utility in the Philippines, Laguna Water, in 2018.

· An InnovateUK-funded collaborative study with Thames Water revealed that Loowatt waste can be worth as much as £5.70/tonne in UK utility-run anaerobic digestion systems, whereas conventional sewage has close to zero net value.

Domestic Sector

· Pioneered toilet servicing company, Loowatt SARL, Madagascar, which services household toilets for a monthly fee. Waste turned into energy and organic fertiliser, working in partnership with waste utility, SAMVA.

· Serving 1,800 people in Madagascar, a number increasing every week.

· >1000 units ordered in 2020 for toilets to international markets, including first order of 400 toilets to The Philippines arriving in October.

Portable Sector

· Served >250,000 people with luxury off-grid toilets at UK events, generating >£680,000* revenue through a customer-pay model.

· Pro Pod installed at Wates construction site, which reduced employee downtime, reduced CO2 emissions and improved health & safety.

*based on unaudited management accounts

Successful Grant Funding

· Awarded >£1M in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation urban sanitation markets and transformative technology programmes.

Monetisation strategy

Hardware sales in the last 12 months: toilets, waste processing machines, refills and servicing software to two key customer groups: Urban Sanitation Service Providers and Portable Toilet Service Providers.

Our international customers are municipal service providers seeking to roll out non-sewered sanitation in widespread, unserved urban areas. In 2020 we completed first major sales to the City of Manila, in a major multi-stakeholder project funded by the country’s federal Department for Environment seeking to reach 10,000 homes in the next few years. We are rolling out a similar strategy in The Philippines and have trials in progress in South Africa.

In the portable sanitation sector, Loowatt has proven demand in the UK. Sales focus is on construction sites and to support COVID resilience.

There is a recurring revenue stream through sales of refills and software that supports services. Additional revenues from implementation and aftersales support.

Use of proceeds

Investments into this round will enable us to scale-up production, create an efficient manufacturing operation, and facilitate continued investment in R&D for future innovations, as follows:

· Scale-up manufacturing and improve gross margins on core products

· Optimise hardware distribution strategies

· Prove scalable licensing models for system consumables

· Develop Aftersales monetization strategy for large international contracts, starting with the City of Manila

· Complete development of Loowatt Pro data transmission system and kickstart sales in UK portable market

· Aid delivery on first major commercial contracts in the UK whilst we lay the groundwork for scalability

· Build patent portfolio across end-to-end system solution

· Continued R&D to build value in core innovation areas including hygienic waterless toilets and waste-to-value processing solutions

Please note, this campaign is part of a larger round, and a further £95,000 was raised on the same terms in March 2020. This investment has been included in the pre-money valuation for this campaign.