January 8, 2019

Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies (Ostara) announced it has closed on $11 million in funding raised through a round co-led by Wheatsheaf Group and VantagePoint Capital Partners, and including follow-on commitments by additional Ostara investors.

The day before announcing this funding, Ostara made a separate statement announcing its acquisition of Mutliform Harvest, a creator of phosphorus recovery systems and small-scale solutions for wastewater treatment.

Founded in Vancouver, Canada, in 2005, Ostara’s Pearl® technology recovers nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural, industrial, and municipal wastewater and transforms what is recovered into Crystal Green®, a premium sustainable fertilizer. Formulated into a patented Root-Activated granule, Ostara claims that its Crystal Green® product is the first fertilizer to be activated on-demand by plants. Such a system is able to not only mitigate runoff and leaching, but to also protect waterways, improve soil health, and raise agricultural yields.

Ostara plans to use the capital raised through this fund to support the scaling up of its fertilizer production in the near-term, and the continued global expansion of its sales markets.

“We focus on companies with unique breakthrough technologies that revolutionize industries,” said Tom Bevilacqua, managing director with VantagePoint Capital Partners. “We strongly believe in the Ostara mission and are excited to be able to play a significant role in accelerating the growth of the company.”

Recent Momentum

This round follows closely upon a prior strategic investment made in Ostara in November 2018 by Taurus Agricultural Marketing Inc., one of the company’s distribution partners.

“Taurus’ investment in Ostara is a testament to their team’s adept ability for innovation and relentless pursuit of providing sustainable solutions to agriculture,” said Craig Davidson, president of Taurus.

“There is an increasing interest from progressive agricultural producers for technologies that improve the bottom line and at the same time, enhance stewardship efforts. Responding to our growers needs, with our partnership with Ostara, we can revolutionize what nutrient management looks like, so we can pursue increased production and positively impact the environment in one product, Crystal Green.”

In the second half of 2018, Ostara not only forged a partnership with Taurus for distribution across Western Canada, it also formed a second agreement with ICL Specialty Chemical Partnerships for distribution across Western Europe.

“The second half of 2018 was an exciting and productive period in the growth and evolution of our company and to have committed investors who share our vision for expansion is extremely satisfying,” said Dan Parmar, president and CEO of Ostara. “Partnerships with respected and influential industry leaders like Taurus and ICL are creating significant uptake of our Crystal Green® fertilizer and have resulted in the immediate expansion of our global sales footprint. Funds from this financing will further assist in the scaling of our global production and supply-chain footprint and allow us to continue to add talented individuals to our core team.”

Multiform

Meanwhile, amid these funding rounds and distribution agreements, Ostara also has acquired Multiform, another pioneer in nutrient recovery and developer of P-recovery systems that help prevent phosphorus runoff and ecological damage for small dairy, swine, and poultry operations.

“The team at Multiform are pioneers in nutrient recovery, and completion of the Acquisition is a natural progression for Ostara, deepening our experience and expertise in animal wastewater treatment while strengthening our manufacturing potential for recovered nutrients; it also expands upon our already significant IP portfolio and immediately increases our production footprint,” said Parmar.

Under the terms of the deal, Ostara has engaged Dr. Keith Bowers, president, co-founder, and CTO of Multiform as well as industry expert, to head-up the technology integration process, to identify new market opportunities, and to provide operation and design support for the newly-combined company.

“The addition of Dr. Bowers is a significant complement to our existing senior technical team,” said Parmar, “…and we are excited that he will be working with us to deliver Ostara’s expanded suite of offerings to new customers through our global salesforce.”

-Lynda Kiernan