CALGARY, AB, December 21, 2017 – Accelerate Fund II is pleased to announce its investment in FREDsense Technologies Corp, an award-winning Calgary company which markets portable water testing instruments that immediately detect the presence of contaminants in water, without requirement of a lab or lab technician. Today, FREDsense technology is being developed for water utilities, gold mines and ground water well testing across North America with the potential to dramatically reduce costs and accelerate safe water treatment.
For water utilities, the typical process to test water quality takes three days, requires transporting a water sample to a lab, and is expensive. FREDsense provides operators with a portable solution to economically assess the chemicals found in drinking water right at the source, where they can rapidly modify water treatment processes as needed.
At a large mine in Quebec, FREDsense portable testing technology is being used to assess contaminant levels in effluent. Rapid on-site testing assesses if the mine is in environmental compliance, and how well their water treatment processes are working as they operate. The value to mining clients is similar to water utilities – cost reduction for water testing and timelier water treatment to improve water safety.
“What’s unique about FREDsense is that they enable highly accurate contaminant detection immediately in the field,” explains Nate Glubish, Investment Manager for Accelerate Fund II. “There is no requirement for a lab technician at the source, so on-site staff can use FREDsense’s product to get rapid results right on the spot. There’s the potential to transform company workflows, and provide unprecedented speed in the detection of dangerous substances.”
The global market for water quality and monitoring is more than a $22-billion industry extending across industries including oil and gas, agriculture, drinking water utilities, mining and pharmaceuticals. FREDsense technology has the potential to transform the workflow of thousands of companies that need rapid assessment of the presence of dangerous substances in water. Already, different FREDsense cartridges are available or in development for detecting arsenic, iron and manganese with detection of many more compounds possible.
“With this latest investment, we can accelerate commercialization of our technology, expand our range of contaminant sensors, advance into the broader US market, and develop a more robust IP strategy,” said David Lloyd, CEO and Co-Founder of FREDsense. “We are excited to be working with Accelerate Fund II and the A100. This financing gives us additional capacity to expand our business, refine our technology, and entrench ourselves as a market leader.”
About FREDsense Technologies
FREDsense Technologies is a Calgary based biosensor company looking to revolutionize how to detect what is in our water. By creating fast, portable, and cost effective kits for chemical analysis FREDsense helps water districts, municipalities, and mining corporations de-risk their processes and give them actionable information in minutes instead of days. The company has won numerous awards and been recognized by organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency as an up and coming technology within the arsenic groundwater space. The platform technology can be customized to detect various types of chemicals. www.fredsense.com
About The Accelerate Fund II
Accelerate Fund II is an early-stage angel co-investment fund in Alberta. We co-invest alongside angel investors in financing rounds and will typically invest up to $500,000 on the same terms and conditions as private investors. We work with formal angel groups, super-angels, family funds, and individual angel investors. Accelerate Fund II invests in private, early-stage Alberta companies in knowledge-based industries including: information and communications technology, clean and energy technology, as well as life sciences, including agriculture and biotech. Accelerate Fund II is managed by Yaletown Partners with the support of The A100. Alberta Enterprise Corporation is Accelerate Fund II’s Limited Partner. www.acceleratefund.ca
Media Inquiries:
Accelerate Fund II/Yaletown Partners
Claudia Moore
Material Insight
403.703.0029
Claudia @ materialinsight.com
FREDsense Technologies Corp.
David Lloyd
CEO and Co-Founder
Phone Canada: 1-587-227-0540
davidlloyd @ fredsense.com