Veer Labs

WaterPLUS Social Venture

WaterPLUS is a social venture aimed at developing innovative point-of-use water purification products for the developing world using ultraviolet LEDs.

• The Need for Clean Water
• The Case for Point-of-Use
• UV-LED Water Purification
• Triple-Bottom-Line Enterprise

WaterPLUS hires Joel Thomas for the summer of 2009 to revamp the case for the business and raise capital for field trials.

This past Saturday, WaterPLUS presented in the final round of the Duke Startup Challenge and won $15,000 in awards. Joel, Naman, Kari, and Will gave an outstanding presentation, winning 1st Place in the Social Track ($5k) and taking 2nd Place Overall ($10k). We plan on using the money to fund Kari for the summer to conduct technology evaluation and perhaps start some early prototyping. See here for more information about the winners.

CollegeMogul, a website that profiles organizations and companies led by students has featured WaterPLUS on their website. See the article here.

WaterPLUS and seven other teams in the social track have advanced to the final round of the Carolina Challenge! Previously, 16 teams had passed beyond the pitch round. The final elimination round will take place on Saturday, April 17th at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

After delivering a pitch that the judges unanimously considered "the best they heard all night", WaterPLUS advances to the semi-finalist round of the Carolina Challenge at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. A formal presentation in mid-April will determine if WaterPLUS advances to the final round.

WaterPLUS was one of the 7 teams out of 35 applicants to be accepted into the pilot phase of BASE, the Business Accelerator for Sustainable Entrepreneurship at UNC-Chapel Hill. BASE is the first such initiative to "support businesses that address the triple bottom line: financial profitability, social equity, and environmental sustainability."

WaterPLUS joins two other ventures as finalists in the Social track of the Duke Startup Challenge. The winner in the social track will receive $5,000, with an extra $25,000 if WaterPLUS is chosen as the overall best in show amongst all the tracks. Final presentations will take place on April 12, 2008.

WaterPLUS has been awarded a $5,000 student seed grant from GlaxoSmithKline and Duke University for technical evaluation and prototype development.

WaterPLUS receives 2nd Place in the Global Health track at the University of Washington's Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition, held February 25-29 in Seattle, Washington. 35 teams from around the world were invited, and WaterPLUS was one of 7 teams to advance to the final round. The team finally met their wonderful mentor, Duane Dunk of HaloSource, Inc., and learned more about social entrepreneurship in the developing world. WaterPLUS received $2,500 in prize money that will be put towards technical evaluation and prototype development this summer.

WaterPLUS was one of five teams to receive an Honorable Mention in the 5th Annual William James Foundation Socially Responsible Business Plan Competition. The competition features more than 50 business plans from 10+ countries representing more than 50 universities and ranged in scope and industry. Three finalist teams will present in early March for the final round.

The Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative at UNC-Chapel Hill interviewed Naman Shah about the WaterPLUS venture, describing the origin, the team, and the goals of the project. Read the full article.

WaterPLUS joins 25 teams in advancing to the second round in the 5th Annual William James Foundation Socially Responsible Business Plan Competition. The William James Foundation, named after an American philosopher and psychologist of the early 1900s, was founded by Charles Dell with a deep commitment to expanding the idea of social responsibility in business and corporations.

WaterPLUS was one of the teams selected out of 80 to receive an invitation to Seattle, Washington to compete in the University of Washington's Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC), held February 25-29, 2008. GSEC encourages students around the world to "find creative, commercially sustainable ways to address problems of poverty in the developing world."