We’re very proud to have been shortlisted for Most Impactful Investment at the prestigious Growth Investor Awards for our £1.6m investment into Kelda Showers/Technology.
The Growth Investor Awards celebrate the role of the UK SME investment ecosystem in job and wealth creation, recognising those that enable start-up and ‘scale up’ businesses to realise their full potential and those that deliver value to investors, businesses and the economy.
We worked closely with Kelda Showers in developing its business plan, raising significant funding, and introducing key industry experts to help the pioneering company deliver its ambitious growth plans, and we’re thrilled to have this recognised.
The funding from Growthdeck investors allowed the company to take a prototype through extensive field testing, industrial design and initial sales. It also helped Kelda increase staff numbers, enabled completion of a suite of global patent filings, and facilitated the commissioning of production tooling which enables the shower units to be manufactured (a UK manufacturer was chosen on the basis of quality and to enable management to monitor early production runs in real time).
In terms of growth, Kelda had not made sales when the investment was made, but has now made sales to, or has pilot programmes with, many of the UK’s major gym chains, and has made its first exports, including to Brazil.
We are especially pleased to have been shortlisted in this particular category in the Awards because it identifies fundraisers who have made a real difference to the businesses that they back.
The category looks at the impact the funding’s had on growth, but it is also assessed in terms of the impact on the wider community, not just the investee, and we believe Kelda’s water-saving technology has the capability of making a global impact.
The technology offers 2½ times the spray power of traditional showers for the same water volume, or – importantly for its environmental impact - 58% savings in both power and water usage for the same spray power. It’s also significantly safer in guarding against transmission of Legionella infection.
Two-thirds of the global population (4 billion people) live under conditions of severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year, whilst half a billion people in the world face severe water scarcity all year round. Increasing water-use efficiencies, as Kelda is doing, and better sharing of the limited freshwater resources, are both key to sustainability.