We want to
start by wishing a Happy New Year to all our partners, team members,
stockholders, and followers. 2022 was a pivotal year for BioLargo, with
revenues growing substantially each quarter and more than 125% year-over-year thanks
to exceptional long-term channel partnerships and increasing adoption of
products based on BioLargo technologies. (Note that our revenue numbers are
preliminary and have not yet been audited, and are thus subject to change.)
As we start
the new year, it’s a great time to reflect on the milestones we’ve achieved in
2022 and the opportunities we’ve laid the foundation for in 2023. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, allow
us to share some highlights:
POOPH – New Value Created in a New Market
BioLargo’s business model is to identify unsolved, targeted
environmental or cleantech problems, invent new breakthrough technologies that
solve them, then turn them into products through applied R&D and
engineering. Once that’s done, we monetize them through a mix of early direct
sales and subsequent licensing agreements to maximize their reach. By employing
licensing agreements with credible, experienced partners in target markets, we
can see the financial fruits of our labor on a technology faster and more
efficiently than if we tried to do it all ourselves.
A great example of this model is with our odor and VOC
control business unit. BioLargo’s industrial odor control agent, marketed under
the brand name CupriDyne Clean, uses our proprietary chemistry to control industrial
or solid waste odors. However, the same underlying chemistry, in a different
formulation, can be used to deliver a product to address pet odors.
This product, marketed nationally on television under the
brand name POOPH, is making an even bigger splash in pet product consumer
markets. Its recent introduction into Walmart is a huge success and is expected
to continue growing in 2023. BioLargo’s partner, Ikigai Marketing Works,
reports that the product is being positively received by several major national
retail chains.
By leveraging the consumer market expertise of Ikigai,
BioLargo has created a significant revenue stream from an existing technology without
increasing the company’s overhead and while reducing its reliance on external
capital. This business case is a great example of the capacity of the BioLargo
business model to generate new value through partnerships.
Putting an End to Forever Chemicals (PFAS)
PFAS is a class of chemicals (per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances) that have been used in countless products around the world. What
makes them durable and useful also unfortunately makes them a problem – they’re
incredibly slow to break down in the environment and so they accumulate in our
water, soil, food, and in our bodies as well. For this reason, they are often
dubbed “forever chemicals”. PFAS chemicals have been linked to cancer and other
health problems in many countries around the world, and have emerged as one of
the most significant environmental challenges of the century, having been
detected in the blood of over 99% of tested Americans and being found in well
water in all 50 US states.
With the enhanced understanding of the significant risks to
human health that these chemicals pose, regulations are being proposed and
implemented to control human exposure and remove them from our environment. Regulations
were proposed to add PFAS to the CERCLA (“Superfund”) list last September and PFAS
are expected to be added to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
list in 2023. In the summer of 2022, the Health Advisory Levels (HALs) for PFAS
were revised down almost 10-fold, with similar changes expected under the Safe
Drinking Water Act in early 2023. The EPA has begun pushing for new monitoring
of PFAS contamination of air and wastewater as a likely prelude to tightening
regulations.
BioLargo is positioned to uniquely address this escalating
need for practical, affordable PFAS treatment solutions. BioLargo’s AEC
(Aqueous Electrostatic Concentrator) systems allow us to help customers to
develop tailored solutions to remove a wide range of harmful PFAS from water,
meet regulatory requirements, and preserve human and environmental well-being. As
compared with incumbent technologies, our AEC machine reduces hazardous waste
disposal and operating costs. As PFAS contamination becomes an increasingly
pressing problem across the US and the world, we are excited for the
opportunities to help communities and industry clean their water. As for its
commercial status, we have begun our first PFAS mitigation project (still in
early phase), and have entered into sales and business development contracts
with nine channel partners and/or independent sales representative companies to
represent our PFAS removal technology to clients.
Minimal Liquid Discharge Systems Partnership (a Water
Reuse Initiative)
Collaboration starts with partnership, and partnership is
all about seeing a way to help one another succeed and then executing,
together. BioLargo’s collaboration with Garratt-Callahan, a company of
experienced professionals with deep expertise in water treatment, is about
achieving a vision of water treatment and conservation for an important and
underserved market: cooling tower water treatment.
It is hard to overstate the potential impact of being able
to reuse every drop of liquid water, especially in drought-ridden areas. This
goal drove the companies to combine their efforts to bring a novel wastewater
treatment product design to the market. The heart of the new modular design,
developed and patented by Garratt-Callahan scientists, needed the expert
equipment and manufacturing capabilities of BioLargo to bring it to fruition.
The resulting collaborative breakthrough allows small- and
medium-volume manufacturers to approach the industrial gold standard of “zero
liquid discharge” without the million-dollar capital investments often required
by traditional technologies. It’s about bringing new capabilities to market at
an accessible price point and creating a positive impact not only for these
individual manufacturers but for the environment as a whole. Garratt-Callahan
is focusing on customers with a track record of technology adoption and sector
leadership in order to lay a foundation for broad adoption among their peers.
The Energy Industry: A Strategic sector for BioLargo
There is an inextricable linkage between water and energy.
Producing, moving, treating, and heating water, then collecting and treating
wastewater – every step of the water cycle – consumes energy. Just as producing
water requires a lot of energy, harnessing energy requires lots of water. This
relationship between water and energy is called the water–energy nexus. And
it’s behind our strategy for becoming a recognized player in the energy
industry. Allow us to share two examples of how we’re implementing this
strategy: our Ultra Safe Nuclear project and our South American Waste-to-Energy
Project.
Ultra Safe Nuclear Project
The widespread adoption of nuclear power generation has been
limited by the sheer size of nuclear reactors and their inherent safety issues.
But because nuclear power holds the potential for addressing greenhouse gas
emissions and climate change concerns, there is a significant market for any
company that can develop safer, smaller, nuclear power solutions.
Ultra Safe Nuclear is a Seattle-based nuclear energy
innovator and has invented a "fission battery" – a fourth-generation
modular nuclear reactor that addresses these market needs. They have engaged
BioLargo’s engineering division to develop the fuel production system that the
fission battery will rely upon, a crucial component for the final device. This will allow the company’s revolutionary
new Micro Modular Reactor to deliver safe, zero-carbon, cost-effective energy
anywhere. This is yet another way that BioLargo‘s environmental engineering
capabilities are being brought to bear on the challenge of making life better –
sustainably.
Large-Scale Waste-to-Energy
How do you dispose of 2,000,000 tons of municipal solid
waste every year and come out ahead both financially and in terms of
environmental impact?
A Southern California-based sustainable energy services
company has engaged BioLargo to answer that question for a South American
client. BioLargo‘s answer is a waste-to-energy conversion plant project that
leverages the capabilities of BioLargo’s waste management and air quality
control subsidiary, ONM Environmental, and the expertise of its engineering
subsidiary, BLEST. The state-of-the-art plant would be expected to be one of
the largest of its kind in the entire world.
At this time, both the Ultra-Safe Nuclear and
Waste-to-Energy projects are expected to progress to their subsequent phases of
engagement in early 2023, and we’ll keep our stakeholders informed as each
project moves ahead.
*****
I want to
remind readers that our subsidiary Clyra Medical Technologies continues to
advance its commercial efforts to capitalize on the regulatory clearance of its
Bioclynse product, an efficacious, safe, long-acting wound irrigation solution
that can be used throughout the entire surgical procedure, with no need to
rinse out (https://www.clyramedical.com/clyraproducts). They have recently signed
contracts with and are training over 25 sales representatives, landed their first
customers, are in negotiations with hospital systems and buying groups, and are
in negotiations with major channel partners. Stay tuned as we’re very excited
about Clyra.
As always,
we encourage our stockholders, partners, and followers to reach out to us if
they have questions, advice (or even criticisms!). Our network is a fundamental
reason for our success and we’re grateful for the strength of your engagement
and support. You can always reach me directly by email at dennis.calvert@biolargo.com.
We wish you
all a wonderful and Happy New Year!
Dennis P. Calvert
President & CEO, BioLargo, Inc.
About BioLargo, Inc.
BioLargo, Inc. (OTCQB:BLGO) is a cleantech and life sciences innovator and engineering services solution provider. Our core products address PFAS contamination, achieve advanced water and wastewater treatment, control odor and VOCs, improve air quality, and control infections and infectious disease. Our approach is to invent or acquire novel technologies, develop them into product offerings, and extend their commercial reach through licensing and channel partnerships to maximize their impact. See our website at www.BioLargo.com.
Safe Harbor Act
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include without limitation those about BioLargo's (the "Company") anticipated revenue and plans for future operations. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include without limitation: the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's business, results of operations, financial condition, and stock price; the effect of regional economic conditions on the Company's business, including effects on purchasing decisions by consumers and businesses; the ability of the Company to compete in markets that are highly competitive and subject to rapid technological change; the ability of the Company to manage frequent introductions and transitions of products and services, including delivering to the marketplace, and stimulating customer demand for, new products, services, and technological innovations on a timely basis; the dependency of the Company on the performance of distributors of the Company's products. More information on these risks and other potential factors that could affect the Company's business and financial results is included in the Company's filings with the SEC, including in the "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of the Company's most recently filed periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and subsequent filings. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak as of their respective dates.
