AquaTech Innovation, flagship of the Coq vert community, recycles wastewater among professionals

Vue aerienne AquaClear Cap dAgde

Triptyque AquaPool

The Montpellier start-up AquaTech Innovation has carved out a place of choice in the world of greentech. It is closely followed by the public investment bank Bpifrance.

Water. This blue gold that must be preserved and used wisely more than ever. Geneviève Marais, head of the Montpellier start-up Aquatech Innovation, worries about this on a daily basis. With her team, she has developed a solution for collecting wastewater in a constrained environment in two sectors of activity in particular: campsites and marinas. « Waste water in boats must first be collected – we have developed a pumping solution that does not require gravity – and then treated, either by bringing it back to the city network, or via a sanitation solution like our floating wastewater treatment plant,” she explains.

Alongside these sanitation solutions, AquaTech Innovation is also developing recycling solutions to recover washing water from camping swimming pool filters and then reinject it into the circuit. These solutions also make it possible to recover shower water for flushing toilets as well as gray water for watering green spaces. « To manage all these solutions, we have developed a digital solution, that is to say an electronic management unit, indicates Geneviève Marais. We have also developed a management tool to allow professionals to control their consumption. »

Acting in favor of the ecological transition

AquaTech Innovation joined the Coq Vert community in the summer of 2023. This community, launched by Bpifrance, in partnership with ADEME and the Ministry of Ecological Transition in 2020, brings together business leaders convinced of the need to act and already committed to the ecological and energy transition. « It was important for me to find myself among entrepreneurs who have chosen to engage in an ecological approach, explains the manager. It’s also a strong marker that allows us to be recognized. »

To put all the chances on her side, Geneviève Marais also joined the Bpifrance accelerator for 18 months. « This helps the manager to take a step back and have the chance to meet quality stakeholders in order to perform better. » Beyond this program, Geneviève Marais notes that the monitoring by the public investment bank, through a real leverage effect, contributes to the development of AquaTech innovation.

Ready to move into production

A few weeks ago the start-up raised 2 M€ with Calao Finance and the regional funds Sofilaro and Sud Mer Invest. « This lifting was crucial for our development, explains Geneviève Marais. All our products are now complete in concept, we now need to move on to the industrialization phase. » For the moment, the company is based on the Cap Alpha site of the Business Innovation Center in Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole. « We have 15 employees to date but there will be 30 by 2025. We must now formulate our expectations for the future production site that we wish to establish in the territory of the Metropolis ».