North Carolina startup raising millions for its water purification technology

Investors are betting on a startup in Research Triangle Park that wants to change the way water is purified.

NALA Membranes, the brainchild of mother-daughter entrepreneurs Sue Mecham and Judy Riffle, has closed on $1.2 million of a planned $3 million convertible note. It’s money that Mecham said will help the firm finally get to commercialization.

To date, it’s internal investors. But the company is in due diligence with a variety of other backers, including strategic investors, she said.

The funding is a big deal for a company that for years has been hunkered down in a lab, researching a complex technology that its founders hope will help in the global push to save water.

Mecham said the money would help scale up the technology, move it out of the lab and into industrial operations. That means working with a contract manufacturer to create commercial-sized membranes for advanced water treatment systems.

“It’s a really transitional and pivotal time for the company as we move from lab scale R&D work to more commercial manufacturing and commercial sales and integration into commercial systems,” she said.

Not only is the firm scaling up, but it’s also collaborating with customers. The company has bold ambitions. Its chorine-stable membranes have a lower energy profile than standard materials, meaning lower greenhouse gases. But Mecham said the technology also lessens the need for cleaning and maintenance, further reducing the cost of operating the system.

“We’re looking to reduce the cost of advance water treatment,” she said.

There are multiple applications, including water re-use out west.

"Wastewater is the perfect source … you just have to clean it up and use it again,' Mecham said.