Slater invests in water purification startup that won 2015 R.I. Biz Plan

HMSOLUTION, a water purification technology company co-founder by CEO Margaret Lengerich while a graduate student at Brown University, has received a $50,000 investment from the Slater Technology Fund. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
HMSOLUTION, a water purification technology company co-founder by CEO Margaret Lengerich while a graduate student at Brown University, has received a $50,000 investment from the Slater Technology Fund. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – The Slater Technology Fund has invested $50,000 in local water technology company HMSolution Inc.
The company, co-founded by Brown University graduate and CEO Margaret Lengerich, has created technology designed to remove eight of the most common heavy metals in drinking water at a cost lower than traditional filtration methods and without the addition of other chemicals to the water being treated.
HMSolution was recently named the winner in the Energy and the environment division of Providence Business News’ Fastest-growing & Innovative Companies recognition program and will be honored at a Sept. 21 event along with the other program winners. The company also was the winner of the entrepreneur track of the 2015 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition, for which it received $66,200 in prizes, including a $25,000 bonus cash award, as well as an additional $15,000 in cash and $26,200 in professional and consulting services.
The company initially focused on arsenic in drinking water, a toxic contaminant that the World Health Organization says affects more than 200 million people in 70 countries, the result of natural geological formations as well as agricultural and industrial activity.
The Slater investment in the local startup is being matched by VentureWell, a nonprofit investor in young inventors that has given $7.5 million in grants to more than 500 student teams in its nearly 20 years of existence, which both are in addition to a $20,000 Innovation Voucher awarded by the R.I. Commerce Corp. earlier this year.
“There is growing interest in our technology from water solution providers and multinational water system operators, particularly in Latin America and the U.S. … This investment, combined with our previous contest winnings and customer revenue, will allow us to advance to our next generation of product technology and grow our commercialization and supply partnerships, including those with other R.I.-based companies,” said Lengerich in a statement.
Slater Managing Director Thorne Sparkman added that “HMSolution’s technology addresses an unmet need of well water users globally. Their kinetic, on-demand treatment media generation methodology is well suited to a broad variety of water applications, which are fast becoming a primary environmental issue worldwide.”
Lengerich and her sister Constanza started work on the company years ago, having been named a semi-finalist in the 2013 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition in the Student Track, and subsequently taking part in the 2015 Social Enterprise Greenhouse accelerator class, which was recognized in April of last year.

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