Agrilink, the Adelaide based water management solutions company, is pleased to announce a $3m investment in the company by WHEB Ventures, a London based venture capital firm.
WHEB Ventures is jointly owned by founder directors Kim Heyworth and Rob Wylie together with Ben Goldsmith and associates of the Goldsmith family. WHEB's fund invests in early stage clean technology companies which have global market applications.
Dr Rob Wylie, who has joined the Board of Agrilink, said “Water is becoming an increasingly valuable resource worldwide. We were very impressed at the water and hence cost savings that Agrilink's systems can bring to Australian farmers and can see great potential for its use outside Australia and in other outlets such as urban and domestic situations. With the links that Agrilink has formed in the US and is starting to form in Europe we look forward to helping the company grow internationally”
Agrilink's CEO Nigel Hennessy added that “Although 70% of Australia 's fresh water is used in agricultural irrigation the urban and domestic users are also potentially large users of the company's products.” “A negligible number of automatic watering systems have feed-back control to optimise water usage. How often do we see councils watering parks during a rainstorm? We waste so much of our valuable resources”, he said.
The principal shareholders of the company are now WHEB Ventures, SAM Private Equity (SAM), a leading clean technology venture fund, and its related listed investment company Sustainable Performance Group (SPG), and Run Pty Ltd, an Australian investor.
New Directors
Joining the Board of Agrilink is Mr Don Blackmore who was Chief executive Office of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission from 1990 to 2004. He is presently a Director of Water Ed Australia and a consultant to the World Bank on the Mekong, Indus and Eastern Nile Rivers . Don brings and enormous amount of experience in water management in Australia and is one of the world's leading authorities; his global experience will be invaluable to Agrilink.
Also joining the Board is Mr John Warburton who was Chairman of Tandou Limited, one of Australia 's leading agricultural producers, from 1995 to 2003, and who is presently Chairperson of the Port of Hastings Corporation and a Director of Vision Super in Victoria. He has been an external advisor to various public consulting groups, a major legal firm in Melbourne and several local government authorities. John's extensive private and public experience and his professional knowledge in agricultural businesses will be very significant to Agrilink.