LOS ANGELES, MARCH 1, 2018 -- Water Planet, which has developed and sells the world's first smart membrane products, announces that it has spun out its highly successful PolyCera® membranes product line into a separate subsidiary operating company, PolyCera Membranes (polyceramembranes.com).
In the planning stages for the past year, this development includes closing of the initial tranche of a $8.75 million Series A financing round for PolyCera Membranes.
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In addition, Simon Marshall, former partner at Amane Advisors, has joined PolyCera Membranes as its new CEO. He brings to the company proven commercial and entrepreneurial acumen, having consistently delivered significant revenue, profit and market share growth working for corporate and consultancy organizations over the past 25 years.
Water Planet's CEO Eric Hoek explains how his company's innovative membrane material coupled with a monitoring system powered by artificial intelligence is helping utilities get more water out of their assets at a lower cost.
Earlier in his career, Marshall held senior management positions at Ultura, Severn Trent and Eurofins. He possesses extensive international experience, having led operations in North and Central America, the Far East including China, Hong Kong and Malaysia, the Middle East and throughout Europe. He holds a degree in Mechanical and Production Engineering from the University of Wolverhampton.
"We are excited about bringing Simon on as the new CEO for PolyCera Membranes. He and I have known each other for years, and he was my first choice for the position. He brings to the company an exceptional business mindset and strong management experience that will be essential as we scale the business," said Eric Hoek, who remains in his role as CEO of Water Planet.
"I am excited about the opportunity to work with Eric and the amazing team at PolyCera, and to lead PolyCera's commercial growth phase. It is a truly differentiated membrane technology that is enabling our customers to treat the most challenging waters with membranes, whereas that could not be done economically before," said Marshall.
"The plan to establish PolyCera Membranes as a separate entity evolved from the success of both PolyCera and IntelliFlux technologies as commercial products, each with dozens of installations around the world by now. We found the two products required radically different operating models, selling strategies and execution capabilities and decided in early 2017 to form two separate business divisions within Water Planet, with me as the acting leader of PolyCera and Subir Bhattacharjee [Water Planet's co-founder and Chief Technology Officer] as the acting leader of IntelliFlux," Hoek noted.
"We began to see increased customer traction, improved team dynamics and enhanced execution on a project basis. In fall 2017, we spun out IntelliFlux as IntelliFlux Controls with Subir as the CEO, and its success, along with that of our other spin-out MembranePRO, gave us the confidence to convert the PolyCera division into a wholly-owned subsidiary. That enabled us to raise capital for direct investment into PolyCera Membranes," Hoek added.
Hoek will remain CEO of Water Planet, Inc. and will continue to provide support for its companies on high-level strategic and technical matters.
"We are confident that this business model maximizes opportunities for continued growth of our membrane technology businesses. This new structure also allows me to support the operating businesses while continuing the original vision for Water Planet as the place where innovation happens," said Hoek.
For more information, visit http://polyceramembranes.com.
