WEBVTT - Air Water Ventures to Go Public

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<v Speaker 1>This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim

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<v Speaker 1>Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio.

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<v Speaker 2>We wanted to change gears, Matt and talk about this

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<v Speaker 2>issue when it comes to the growing scarcity of water

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<v Speaker 2>and in relation to how it correlates when it comes

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<v Speaker 2>to climate change and then also global warming. So I

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<v Speaker 2>want to get straight to our next guest, Jasper Munkholm,

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<v Speaker 2>chief operating officer of Air to Water Company. Thank you

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<v Speaker 2>so much for joining us to start off, talk to

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<v Speaker 2>us about your company and what you do.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, basically, as Haarah is actually a company that has

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<v Speaker 1>been formed back in twenty eighteen in the Middle East.

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<v Speaker 1>And basically what we're doing is is generating water, drinking

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<v Speaker 1>water out of the air. So that's that's basically what

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<v Speaker 1>we're doing.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, how I mean that sounds magical? What do you

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<v Speaker 3>do to make that happens?

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<v Speaker 1>So it's almost medic I know. But basically I think

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<v Speaker 1>I think most of you know, you know, des humidify us.

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<v Speaker 1>You always know you know, the your your automobile, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>generating you know, getting water on the ground when you

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<v Speaker 1>have you know, left the kind of summer. Basically, what

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<v Speaker 1>what what is going on is that that we take

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<v Speaker 1>we take we take air in and then we filter

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<v Speaker 1>the air actually and then it goes into a condensation

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<v Speaker 1>process with which is normally the process you see in dehumidifiers.

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<v Speaker 1>And then of course if you look into dehumidifiers, that

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<v Speaker 1>just dehumidifier takes out the water. But what we do

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<v Speaker 1>is actually adding a few steps. So in those steps

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<v Speaker 1>we had purification, mineralization, and then we add some UV

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<v Speaker 1>lightning and then you can actually drink the water.

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<v Speaker 3>So the water is yeah, well, I mean when I

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<v Speaker 3>think about it, especially in a place in the Middle

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<v Speaker 3>East right where there isn't very humid air all the time,

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<v Speaker 3>it sounds like an expensive process. You know, what do

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<v Speaker 3>you use to fuel that transition? And how much you know,

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<v Speaker 3>does a cup of purified drinking water out of the

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<v Speaker 3>air cost?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, but actually since twenty eighteen, we have, of course,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, made a tremendous effort in actually developing and

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<v Speaker 1>innovating in the product. So now we actually basically able

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<v Speaker 1>to compete directly, you know, head to head with bottle water,

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<v Speaker 1>which is you know huge, you know, one point two

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<v Speaker 1>million bottles of drinking water sold every minute globally, and

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<v Speaker 1>it's not only in the Middle East, so you have

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<v Speaker 1>humidities that are fluctuating. But we are also able to

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<v Speaker 1>actually do the same in the US. So it's not

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<v Speaker 1>only in the Middle East, it's actually Southeast Asia, it's

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<v Speaker 1>many of the states in the US, it's on the

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<v Speaker 1>African continent. And the more we put into the development

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<v Speaker 1>and innovation of our products, we can go down in

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<v Speaker 1>humidity level and generate still water even though that we

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<v Speaker 1>have low temperatures down to seventeen degrees which around sixty

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<v Speaker 1>two farnhead.

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<v Speaker 3>So do you have I mean, is there a machine

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<v Speaker 3>that's the size of a car or a briefcase? Is

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<v Speaker 3>it a factory?

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<v Speaker 1>You know?

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<v Speaker 3>Is it diesel powered or solar like, I'm so fascinated

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<v Speaker 3>by this.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it is me too. I'm totally fascinated by it

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<v Speaker 1>because the first time you see one is just like, oh,

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<v Speaker 1>where's the water inlet? You know, there's no water inlet? Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>where does the water come from? Then? You know, can

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<v Speaker 1>I drink it? And all that. So basically in our

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<v Speaker 1>product range, you know, we have we have machines that

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<v Speaker 1>can produce thousands of leaders today, which is big and

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<v Speaker 1>huge and for industrial purpose or maybe even bottling plants

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<v Speaker 1>that we are we are now going to you know,

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<v Speaker 1>install at Hilton's and some of the big hotel resource

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<v Speaker 1>in in the Middle East. But we are also launching

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<v Speaker 1>next year, we are launching the very first one on

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<v Speaker 1>the you know kitchens. Count it up so imagine, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a high a f ryer, and that high A f

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<v Speaker 1>fryer is sexually generating enough water for you and your

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<v Speaker 1>wife for you know, per day out of the air.

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<v Speaker 1>So basically our product range is everything from five litera

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<v Speaker 1>up to thousands and one hundred thousands of litera. If

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<v Speaker 1>you want to run, how we power it? Okay, you

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<v Speaker 1>can plug it in, but you also have options to

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<v Speaker 1>sol up powered. So it's actually full circle on the

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<v Speaker 1>water generation and that gives us a huge advantage that

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<v Speaker 1>you know, we have waited quite a long time you

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<v Speaker 1>know to get you know, really really into the marketing

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<v Speaker 1>communication around this. We have focused on the products and

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<v Speaker 1>actually building up a customer base.

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<v Speaker 2>And Air to Water is actually in the process of

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<v Speaker 2>going public on the New York Stock Exchange via a merger.

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<v Speaker 2>Talk to us more about that.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, we we're planning in the beginning of twenty four

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<v Speaker 1>so next year, so we're doing a lot of preparations now,

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<v Speaker 1>and of course, you know, transforming and I would say

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<v Speaker 1>also begins to disrupt you know, a whole industry. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>it's a three hundred billion industry, the water bottling industry,

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<v Speaker 1>so it's a huge industry. And to do that, we

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<v Speaker 1>also need capital and do further investments because we want

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<v Speaker 1>to be the drivers also in this old industry that's upcoming.

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<v Speaker 1>So you could see atmospheric waters as as as a

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<v Speaker 1>place of disruption within the water area. I worked in

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<v Speaker 1>the water industry, biggest pump manufacturer in the world and

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<v Speaker 1>so on, and this whole water industry is really really classic.

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<v Speaker 1>And we also need to rethink how we're generating water

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<v Speaker 1>because ninety seven percent of the water comes out to

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<v Speaker 1>oud the ocean and it's and in many cases we

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<v Speaker 1>also you know, desalinate the water, which is a condescent

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<v Speaker 1>process and very high energy consumption process. So we need

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<v Speaker 1>to think about where we also and and even you

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<v Speaker 1>know in the groundwater. So we are draining our reservoirs

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<v Speaker 1>all over the world, so where do we have water.

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<v Speaker 1>We also have water in the air, so it's actually

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<v Speaker 1>around us. We just need to put more money more

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<v Speaker 1>capital and innovation into the products. And that's you know,

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<v Speaker 1>our main purpose with the merger.

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<v Speaker 3>And aspect, So Jasper, is this then a game changer

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<v Speaker 3>in your mind? I mean, can you produce water from

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<v Speaker 3>air at such scale that you know, we can use

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<v Speaker 3>it for farming for example.

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<v Speaker 1>It we basically can do that. The some of the

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<v Speaker 1>challenges that we have, you know, as I mentioned before

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<v Speaker 1>is of course you know the technology, but but right

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<v Speaker 1>now we could basically set up you know, with an

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<v Speaker 1>x amount of solar panel to containers and then we

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<v Speaker 1>can actually begin to produce water. If the climate, humidity

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<v Speaker 1>and temperature of course is there, then you can actually

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<v Speaker 1>do that for agriculture also well companies. So it's continue

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<v Speaker 1>so so so it's basically just a matter of you know,

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<v Speaker 1>the purpose. We we are mainly focusing on the drinking

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<v Speaker 1>water part because it has you know, if you look

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<v Speaker 1>at it, just give you an example emergent markets. So

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<v Speaker 1>in the emergent markets and the demand for drinking water

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<v Speaker 1>will will always exceed the speed and pace you can

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<v Speaker 1>do about building the classical water infrastructure and building pipes

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<v Speaker 1>and infrastructure for drinking and drinking water is very very expensive.

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<v Speaker 1>But if you can bypass that then you can actually

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<v Speaker 1>also build infrastructure on a state label much much cheaper.

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<v Speaker 1>And then that's that's the scale we are aiming for

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<v Speaker 1>because we find this, you know, almost it's just like,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, a purpose. We have to do this because

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<v Speaker 1>this is such an disruptive way of thinking about water.

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<v Speaker 2>Who would you consider to be rivals in your space

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<v Speaker 2>to your company?

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<v Speaker 1>It is, of course, you know, the bottles, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>the bottle of water. You know, that's that's of course rivals,

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<v Speaker 1>but you could also you know, you could also see

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<v Speaker 1>rivals coming up that are you know, it's a dispenser water.

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<v Speaker 1>And it's also in many countries we see you know,

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<v Speaker 1>there's also filtrations under the sink and so on. So

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<v Speaker 1>so we have of course competitors, so to speak. But

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<v Speaker 1>but we are now right now smack in the middle

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<v Speaker 1>of disruption of the drinking water industry in general, and

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<v Speaker 1>when it.

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<v Speaker 2>Comes to these types of emerging technologies. We only have

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<v Speaker 2>a little bit about a minute left here, but I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>pushing it forward, what do you kind of envision for

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<v Speaker 2>your company moving forward? Because we talked about obviously working

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<v Speaker 2>to go public on the New York Stock Exchange.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, of course, you know you also briefly touched upon it.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, it's it's far as it's scaling, because if

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<v Speaker 1>we can if we can scale this, you know, both

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<v Speaker 1>in the US, not only in the middlest East, but

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<v Speaker 1>US the African continent and southeast days. If we can

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<v Speaker 1>scale this at large, we can actually help quite a lot,

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<v Speaker 1>not only on the whole water journey or the impact

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<v Speaker 1>journey of water bottles, but also to support people with

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<v Speaker 1>that technology in areas where scarcity is super super stressed

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<v Speaker 1>or the water is super super stressed. And also we

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<v Speaker 1>are looking into collaborations with NGOs and so on. So

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<v Speaker 1>the more technology and the more innovation we can build,

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<v Speaker 1>the more we can actually help this problem which is

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<v Speaker 1>only going to be bigger.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, thank you so much for joining us. That's Jessper Mounkholm,

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<v Speaker 2>chief operating officer of Air to Water Company, talking to

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<v Speaker 2>us about the growing scarcity of water, which is obviously

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<v Speaker 2>a big key issue, right Matt, and especially when we're

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<v Speaker 2>thinking about how that relates when we're talking about climate

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<v Speaker 2>change as well as global warming