BioLargo President and CEO Dennis Calvert's Video Interview with SNNLive at LD Micro Main Event XI

BioLargo President and CEO Dennis Calvert recently presented at the LD Micro Main Event XI in Los Angeles on December 4th. At this investor conference Dennis sat down with SNNLive's Robert Kraft for a video interview about BioLargo's business and outlook for 2019.

Watch the whole video here:



BioLargo, Inc. (OTCQB: BLGO) is a technology developer and environmental engineering company driven by a mission to "make life better" by delivering robust, sustainable solutions for a broad range of industries and applications, with a focus on clean water, clean air, and advanced wound care, according to the company’s website (see here: www.biolargo.com).
SNNLive caught up with Dennis Calvert, President & CEO of BioLargo, Inc. at the LD Micro "Main Event" 2018 in Bel Air, CA, and they discuss the following topics:
- Overview of BioLargo, Inc.
- Update since our last interview (click here)
- Industrial and VOC product
- What makes the company’s products unique in the marketplace
- Growth drivers going into 2019

For more information about BioLargo, Inc., please visit: www.biolargo.com

The interview may contain forward-looking statements about BioLargo, Inc. See BioLargo's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for more complete information.

BioLargo Spotlight: OC Startups Now article Q&A - BioLargo’s Finances. Q&A with CEO Dennis Calvert…

Source: OC Startups Now

OC Startups Now will periodically run Q&A’s with interesting entrepreneurs, investors and other key players in the OC startup/innovation ecosystem, in their own words.

This Q&A is with Dennis Calvert, CEO of BioLargo, a chemical company developing and marketing innovative products for a range of industries. Recent reports predicting the company’s demise have been exaggerated, Calvert said. It’s just business as usual for the 20-year-old company that is still in the startup stage.

The company’s core expertise is the unique chemistry of iodine, which it has leveraged to develop the following: an industrial odor control product (currently marketed as CupriDyne Clean); an irrigation solution for chronic wounds; and a wastewater treatment solution.

The goal is to build independent companies around each of these products, which can then be spun out, with BioLargo acting as the catalyst and development engine.

A recent financial report by Edison Investment Research shows that BioLargo is generating revenue, although it’s in the early early stages of commercialization. 

The company had revenue of $327,000 in Q2, a substantial increase year-on-year (compared to $100,000 in Q2 of 2017). The net loss for Q2 was $3.6 million, of which $1.7 million comprised non-cash payments associated with convertible notes. The majority of these notes have been recently converted (from $6.8 million at the end of 2017 to $2 million now) so this expense is expected to decrease this significantly.

OCSN: Talk about the conversion from debt to equity over the past decade.

Calvert: We’ve received about $23 million in investment over the past 10 years. We have about $1.2 million in near-term debt.

In the early years, we used debt financing to offer investors yield, but the underlying terms provided for mandatory conversion into equity.

The total investment has allowed us to take ideas and convert them to create four business units, three technical platforms, two commercial business units and two that are about to emerge from R&D.

OCSN: What are your four business units? And which are generating revenue now?

Calvert: Our first business unit is Odor No More. It developed CupriDyne Clean, an odor control agent marketed to the solid waste management and water treatment industries, with potential inroads into other industries, like composting and animal waste.

This unit is on the cusp of positive cash flow. It’s secured national purchasing agreements with four of the largest waste handling companies in the industry. It now includes engineering design, construction, service and maintenance so it’s a full-service provider.

Our second unit is engineering. It’s just now reached the point ofsecuring contracts with outside customers, where revenue exceed expenses.

This unit was a new startup that was created by taking the innovation unit from one of the largest engineering companies in the industry, Chicago Bridge and Iron (CB&I). Earlier this year, CB&I merged into McDermott International

This unit has two goals: to supply internal services for BioLargo’s emerging tech and serve its own external clients to generate revenue.

The third business unit is Clyra Medical Technologies, a wound care startup that just announced a $1 million equity investment. (See related story here.)

BioLargo owns close to 50% of the equity. Cylra has received $3.5 million in equity investment to date.

The fourth unit deals, BioLargo Water, deals with water purification. It’s a year away from commercialization. It’s in the midst of four pre-commercial pilots being sponsored by grants. It’s received 65 grants to date.

The water purification market is potentially a $750 billion market. We (recently) received independent validation on the ability of our tech to remove micropollutants.

OCSN: Are you still considering a reverse stock split with the goal of uplisting to NASDAQ? (In a special shareholder meeting in September, a reverse stock split was approved. It would take a raise of $5 million to meet this listing requirement.)

Calvert: In making the decision for a reverse stock split, the company needs equity investment, no question. We believe that a national exchange is really required and a company running on the OTC has become increasingly difficult to manage.

But, we also believe the national capital markets are under extreme pressure right now, so we are at the point of evaluating all of our capital resources that would allow us to achieve positive cash flow and consider the option of uplisting to a national exchange.

We’re evaluating our options on a daily basis.

OCSN: Anything else you’d like to add?

Calvert: We have 20 Ph.D.’s and engineers involved in our business. One of the challenges we have perpetually faced over our journey is the notion that our value propositions sometimes can appear too good to be true. Our response is they are in fact true.

What’s new is we’re now achieving a level of commercial validation and accumulation of third-party validations that reinforce our original claims. But that’s required significant time and investment to achieve critical mass to stand in front of the industry and have our tech be recognized as a disruptor.

I don’t mind criticism. We speak openly about the challenges we face as a disruptor for change.

When we went into waste handling industry, we positioned ourselves with truth, as the only product that actually works. That means the market had been trained that there was no product that actually worked. Everything was a band-aid, nothing was a fix. When we said we would solve it, the natural reaction is to say “We don’t believe you.”

The challenge is if you believe nothing works why would you do anything? In many of the things we’re doing, we’re presenting claims that in each case, it’s never been seen before. And therein lies the challenge.

BioLargo’s subsidiary Clyra Medical secures over $1 million in direct investments to finalize the acquisition of the breakthrough stem cell therapy technology SkinDisc

WESTMINSTER, Calif., December 19, 2018 – BioLargo, Inc. (OTCQB:BLGO), developer of sustainable science and technologies and a full-service environmental engineering company, announced today that its partially owned subsidiary Clyra Medical Technologies, Inc. has secured over $1 million in new capital via direct investment and finalized its acquisition of a breakthrough stem cell therapy technology called “SkinDisc^TM”. Developed by Scion Solutions, LLC, SkinDisc^TM uses a homogenous cocktail to generate a cell-rich bio gel that supports the healing of chronic wounds. The product has been deployed clinically in over 250 patient cases with no adverse side effects, and successfully aided in the salvage of limbs that otherwise may have led to amputation and costly treatments.

In addition to the acquiring the SkinDisc^TM product, Clyra has engaged Scion’s founders to support its commercial strategy, including Dr. Brock Liden, a renowned wound specialist and expert in diabetic limb salvage, and Spencer Brown, a medical device industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience working in medical sales, account management, and distribution in the medical device industry. In addition to Dr. Liden and Mr. Brown, Scion’s founders include Tanya Rhodes, former VP of Innovation at Smith & Nephew, and a current Clyra consultant. The details of the Scion transaction were previously reported in a Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 2, 2018 (link here).

Dennis P. Calvert, CEO of BioLargo commented, “Our core technologies are the foundation upon which we are building a successful company, and this is just one example. By funding Clyra through direct investment, we have secured dedicated capital to complete its products’ journey to market while also creating value for BioLargo’s shareholders through ownership in Clyra and its ongoing licensing arrangement. In this same vein, we intend to pursue direct investment for our BioLargo Water subsidiary in 2019. These developments serve to enhance the fundamental value of BioLargo while also helping to conserve capital.”

Calvert continued, “The completion of the Scion transaction is important for many reasons. First, a fairness opinion report written by an independent evaluator suggested that there is good evidence, based on comparable company analysis, that the combined value of Clyra and Scion would be approximately $33 million following this transaction. Second, the two technical platforms - Clyra antimicrobial products and the SkinDiscTM - represent substantial product platforms upon which to build an internationally competitive wound care company. Finally, Scion’s founders have successfully launched multiple products into the medical industry and bring crucial expertise on positioning our products in those markets. Of course, we remind our shareholders that we cannot predict the timing of the approval of our current application before the FDA, but that we are highly encouraged with the continued interaction with the FDA staff and believe we are on the right track to be successful soon.”

Clyra Medical’s antimicrobial technology feature a broad-spectrum of antimicrobial efficacy with no known acquired resistance, sustained release, biofilm efficacy, and bioharmony for skin and tissue. While Clyra realizes the need and opportunity across many medical disciplines, the initial targeted commercial markets will be in the areas of general wound therapy, infection control for the orthopedic surgery, and dental. The Clyra technology presents the potential for multiple additional product designs.

About BioLargo, Inc.

BioLargo, Inc. is an innovative technology developer and environmental engineering company driven by a mission to "make life better" by delivering robust, sustainable solutions for a broad range of industries and applications, with a focus on clean water, clean air, and advanced wound care. We develop and commercialize disruptive technologies by providing the capital, support, and expertise to expedite them from "cradle" to "maturity" (www.biolargo.com). Our engineering division features experienced professional engineers dedicated to integrity, reliability, and environmental stewardship (www.biolargoengineering.com). Our industrial odor control division, Odor-No-More (www.odornomore.com) features CupriDyne Clean Industrial Odor Eliminator (www.cupridyne.com), which eliminates the odor-causing compounds and VOCs rather than masking them, and is now winning over leading companies in the solid waste handling and wastewater industries and other industries that contend with malodors and VOCs. Our subsidiary BioLargo Water (www.biolargowater.ca) develops the Advanced Oxidation System "AOS," a disruptive industrial water treatment technology designed to eliminate waterborne pathogens and recalcitrant contaminants with better energy-efficiency and lower operational costs than incumbent technologies. Our subsidiary Clyra Medical (www.clyramedical.com) features effective and gentle solutions for chronic infected wounds to promote infection control and regenerative tissue therapy.

Contact Information

Dennis Calvert President and CEO BioLargo, Inc. 949-643-9540 x2

Safe Harbor Disclosure

This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ from expectations, estimates and projections and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as “expect,” “estimate,” “project,” “budget,” “forecast,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “believes,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results.

BioLargo Spotlight: Introducing the Spiral AOS

In our previous blog posts that detailed the science behind BioLargo Water’s Advanced Oxidation System (AOS), we explained that the AOS treats water by generating reactive iodine molecules at its electrodes. The iodine molecules generated inside the AOS decontaminate and disinfect water in two fundamental ways: 1) by the oxidation of proteins inside bacteria, viruses, or protozoa and 2) by altering the structure of chemical pollutants, often breaking them down entirely. Explaining the mechanism of how the AOS works, we showcased just how effective the AOS is at reducing electrical and consumable costs while treating water. In this blog, we will elaborate upon recent radical design changes BioLargo Water has made to the AOS as part of our effort to continuously improve our technology, and we will illuminate how and why these decisions will result in a more effective and economical product for end-users.

Historically, AOS devices have conformed to a “stacked” design where water passes alternatingly through positive and negative electrodes one-by-one in a linear flow (see Figure 2, left side). The stacked AOS design is useful for a whole host of industrial applications, and its low cost and low energy value proposition still hold true. However, recent developments in AOS research and engineering design have yielded a new model of the AOS that has certain advantages over the stacked model for certain end-uses. Through development of the AOS, BioLargo Water discovered that the interface between positive electrodes and the spacer material is the most integral aspect of the AOS, being the location where much of the reactive iodine molecules are generated. This finding allowed the company’s scientists to exploit the interface’s benefits. As a result, BioLargo Water scientists designed a “Spiral” AOS device, with one positive electrode and one negative electrode coiled around each another multiple times. In maximizing the contact between water contaminants and the interface’s active chemicals, this design makes the decontamination and disinfection process dramatically more successful and efficient (Insert: image of spiral configuration).

Fig 1: Diagram of water flow through Spiral AOS

This spiral design has numerous benefits for customers. Beyond the obvious advantages of higher performance and lower energy requirements on a pound-for-pound basis, the “Spiral” AOS also significantly reduces the physical footprint. By reducing the size (by volume) of the AOS to approximately 1/5 of the older “Stacked” prototype, BioLargo Water’s design changes have transformed the AOS water treatment device to make the product more scalable, economically valuable, and commercially viable. With reduced spatial dimensions, the “Spiral” AOS is the most practical and feasible water treatment option for factories and consumer businesses that are already tight on space. The importance of this factor is illustrated by trends in the UV water disinfection market, where UV devices have grown progressively smaller over the years, allowing installation in tight spaces without causing operational disruption. It is clear that both industrial and consumer end-users prefer smaller water treatment devices.

Fig 2: Size comparison of old vs. new AOS

We are excited about the Spiral AOS because it expands the ability for this technology to scale up for different end-user applications. As always, work continues at BioLargo to improve the technology further, and we are working to refine the physical substrate materials inside the AOS to ensure its durability and maintenance needs are optimised for commercial settings. Once we have completed our ongoing process of attaining patents (which are already on-file), and complete our pre-commercial testing, the “Spiral” AOS will be ready for commercial trials and market launch. It is only a matter of time before this novel and revolutionary device makes a major impact in the water treatment industry. When it does, BioLargo predicts that this powerful, flexible, cost-efficient, compact water treatment product has the potential to provide affordable water and wastewater treatment to myriad end-user applications. The possibilities for the Spiral AOS are innumerable.

BioLargo Spotlight: Odor-No-More® Participates in Isle Utilities’ US TAG Events

Last week, BioLargo participated in two events put on by Isle Utilities, Inc., a leading clean tech accelerator group that operates globally in the water, waste, and energy sectors. These events are part of Isle Utilities’ Technology Approval Group (TAG) program, an innovation forum where leading early-adopter end-users, including major municipalities and utility companies, are exposed to innovative technology providers. Only a handful of companies are invited to each event, having been selected through a vote by end-user members.

Isle Utilities consists of a team of scientists, engineers, and industry experts from around the world, and they operate their TAG program in Europe, the US, Australia, Singapore, Brazil, and South Africa. According to their website, Isle Utilities is “an independent technology and innovation consultancy that brings together technical and commercial specialists to facilitate relationships. [Their] team are highly skilled engineers and scientists with extensive and diverse consulting experience”. Their TAG program is well-respected for its ability to identify disruptive new technologies for the water and wastewater sector.

To learn more about the TAG program, watch Isle Utilities’ video:

Isle Utilities has a thorough vetting process to choose companies for utilities to vote on to participate in US TAG events, including a rigorous technical review. This ensures that participating municipalities and utilities are only exposed to the very best innovative technology developers and product suppliers. The fact that BioLargo was invited to participate in TAG events represents important industry recognition of its innovative product CupriDyne® Clean.

BioLargo participated in the San Antonio, TX and Dayton, OH, TAG US events, where decision-makers representing municipal water utilities learned about the company’s disruptive industrial odor and VOC control product, CupriDyne Clean.

Odor-No-More’s Vice President of Industrial Sales AJ Sexton V represented the company. He commented on the events, “The Isle Utilities TAG events were terrific. We presented to over 60 people from regional utilities between the two meetings and had the opportunity to have direct one-on-one discussions with representatives from numerous potential clients. We applaud Isle Utilities for organizing these great events.”

US TAG attendees. Odor-No-More's AJ Sexton is 7th from the left