Netherlands-based water desalination technology developer Voltea secured €5m ($5.5m) in a series B round featuring industrial product maker Pentair and consumer goods manufacturer Unilever yesterday.
Growth capital fund Environmental Technologies Fund led the round, which also included venture capital firm Anterra Capital. Unilever participated through its Unilever Ventures subsidiary.
Voltea, which was spun out of Unilever in 2006, is developing technology that applies electric fields to water in order to remove salts and solids so that seawater can be used domestically. It claims the process is cheaper than traditional desalination methods, which rely on high pressure or heat.
Voltea previously raised €3.6m from Pentair and Rabo Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of financial services firm Rabobank, in 2010, before securing an additional €4.5m from Pentair, Rabo and Unilever Ventures in 2012.
– Photo courtesy of Voltea B.V.