to market and distribute this kind of thing effectively in a foreign country with 1 billion people, so it formed a partnership with Eureka Forbes, a company with a direct sales force in India, that markets this jug-and-cartridge product, AquaSure, to middle-class consumers for about $40 to $60. Halosource makes its money by selling replacement cartridges for $7 to $10, which typically need to be replaced every six months, Thompson says.
Eureka Forbes has been selling 25,000 to 50,000 of its jugs per month. Halosource, even though it’s privately held, made a curious appearance last month at a cleantech and renewable conference hosted by the investment bank Piper Jaffray in New York, as well as meetings with institutional investors hosted by Jeffries, Thompson says.
Halosource isn’t hurting for cash—it raised $11.5 million in July from Origo Sino-India, Unilever Technology Ventures, Masdar Clean Tech Fund, Credit Suisse, Siemens, and Consensus Business Group, among others. It has secured partners in China and Brazil, and has manufacturing capability in Washington State and China. It expects to have eight to 12 partnerships in place by the end of 2009, Thompson says. Still, Thompson made it clear that he wants to get out of the office and tell the company’s story along with Kaestle.
“There continues to be interest from investors,” Thompson says. “We want to continue to raise the profile of the company on every level,” he says.
The company has a goal to “grow the business and become profitable,” Thompson says. He didn’t put any time frame on when the company will achieve that. But Thompson—who was a member of Alexander Hutton Ventures before he joined Halosource in 2004—says there’s a different feeling around the office now. “I’ve been around this company for 10 years, and I’ve never seen the momentum at this level,” he says.
