What’s BREWing in Milwaukee?

August 20, 2014

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announces those chosen to participate in the Water Council (Milwaukee) Business, Research, Entrepreneurship in Wisconsin (BREW) Batch II accelerator program. Water Environment Federation (Alexandria, Va.) photo/Barry Liner.

Water innovation clusters, such as the Water Council in Milwaukee, are helping companies innovate and commercialize water technology while stimulating economic development and job creation. Business, Research, Entrepreneurship in Wisconsin (BREW) is a mentor-driven, seed-accelerator program led by the Water Council, and focused on solving freshwater issues with innovative startups and producing cutting-edge technology.

Companies with innovative freshwater technologies are invited to apply to the BREW accelerator program. A team of judges examines the applicants and chooses the winners. This year, judges for Batch II of the program included Barry Liner, director of the Water Environment Federation (Alexandria, Va.) Water Science & Engineering Center, as well as representatives from venture capital, economic development, business school, and international research organizations. After a comprehensive application and judging process, the following six entrepreneurs and their respective businesses were chosen to participate in the second year of the accelerator program:

Cadens LLC (Sullivan, Wis.), represented by Randy Mueller, assists in the design, manufacture, installation, and operation of economical small- and micro-scale hydropower systems.
Pellucid Water (Madison, Wis.), represented by Sorin Monolache and Mark Raabe, comes out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and focuses on decontamination of water through an application that removes dissolved chemicals from water and other solutions.
Hydro-lite (Milwaukee), represented by Eric James and Kashif Hasnie, developed a patented water sterilization device that uses ultraviolet light to eliminate bacteria, viruses, and protozoa from freshwater.
phinding Solutions (Madison, Wis.),represented by Zach Munns, Brad James, and founder Nick Jones, is a biotechnology water company that wirelessly measures and transfers the ionic levels of water through a patent-pending technology designed to improve productivity while reducing costs.
WatrHub (Toronto), represented by Sunit Mohindroo and Ahmad Badruddin, is a data and analytics company that delivers actionable intelligence for municipal, industrial, and agricultural water sectors to enable faster, more confident decision-making.
Wellntel (Milwaukee), represented by Marion Singer and Nick Hayes, offers real-time understanding of well and water-table dynamics through constant measuring and reporting of water levels on a private website or app.

Batch I winners were featured in the WEFTEC Innovation Pavilion in 2013. All of these Batch II companies will be featured at the Wisconsin Innovation Pavilion in the WEFTEC^® 2014 Innovation Showcase Pavilion. In addition, one of the Honorable Mention winners will be featured in the WEFTEC 2014 Innovation Showcase Pavilion: