Bluewater ties-up with South African water solution innovator iDrop in deal to spur pan-Africa expansion

Stockholm, January 23, 2018 – Bluewater, a world leader in water purification solutions for home, commercial and public water stations, announced today it will join forces with I-Drop Water, a for-profit South African social impact company that designs, builds and installs drinking water purification and dispensing machines in general grocery stores at no capital cost, sharing ongoing revenue from water sales with store owners. 

Bluewater, which sells its advanced water purifier solutions across Europe, the USA, China and South-East Asia, said the investment marks the launch pad for the company’s continued expansion throughout Africa.

“Bringing Johannesberg-based I-Drop Water into the Bluewater family strengthens the fast-track approach to bringing our water solutions technology market proposition to South Africa and elsewhere in Africa,” says Anders Jacobson (pictured below), co-founder and CEO of Blue AB, the Swedish sustainability-driven investment company that owns Bluewater. 

Jacobson noted how I-Drop has quickly built a strongly growing market position in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, a presence Bluewater is committed to help grow in the long-term.

Formed in 2015 by husband and wife team James and Kate Steere, I-Drop harnesses an innovative business model that uses nano-purification water filtration technology and a GSM-enabled platform to empower grocery store owners to purify and sell safe, affordable drinking water to their customers. Shoppers refill multi-use containers and pay by the litre for the drinking water they need, an innovative approach that saw the couple win the 2017 All Africa Business Leader Award - Innovator of the Year, hosted by CNBC Africa and Forbes Africa.

“Thanks to I-Drop Water more people can afford safe drinking water, less plastic waste is produced and local economies benefit by supporting their local grocery stores,” said I-Drop co-founder, James Steere. 

James (pictured below with his wife, Kate)  added the partnership with Bluewater aligns perfectly with I-Drop’s business vision and mission and will enable I-Drop to accelerate its rollout and ongoing contribution to job creation in both the water and service sector as well as help spur further technology innovation in South Africa and beyond.

“Bluewater’s unique patented second-generation reverse osmosis water purifiers for home, commercial and public dispensers are the ideal complement to our product offering. Thanks to Bluewater’s stated mission to bring access to clean water to everyone everywhere and contribute to ending the single-use plastics scourge, we are uniquely positioned jointly to tackle two of Africa’s biggest challenges - clean drinking water availability and plastic waste,” Kate Steere said.

Anders Jacobson said Bluewater is on a mission to transform clean drinking water generation, delivery and availability, both in Africa and globally. He said the I-Drop investment underscores Bluewater’s journey to create an ecosystem of like-minded businesses committed to delivering clean water and ending throwaway plastics pollution.

“Our ambition is to identify, invest in, partner with and potentially acquire businesses on an international scale that align with our ambitions to create a healthier planet and living environment for all who live on it,” said Anders Jacobson.

He described the partnership between Bluewater and I-Drop as a ‘made-in-heaven relationship’ bringing together superior water purifying and GSM remote monitoring and control technologies under one company umbrella and providing the opportunity to mutually leverage individual brand core strengths in retail, home, commercial and event channels.

“The market position of our two brands, with Bluewater competing in the premium segment and I-Drop in the low-to-middle-income categories, creates a truly unique chance to deliver human ingenuity-driven solutions to consumers, businesses and municipalities,” said Anders Jacobson.

For more information, please contact, David Noble, head of PR & Communication at david.noble@bluewatergroup.com or call on +44 7785 302 694 www.bluewatergroup.com 

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Background

I-Drop Water is a for-profit, social impact company based in South Africa that champions a sustainable, profitable, environmentally-friendly business solution to the lack of access to safe, affordable drinking water in Africa and the world. The company's innovative business model focuses on deploying intelligent water purification and dispensing machines to grocery stores of all sizes and in all areas at no cost to shop owners, operating on a revenue share model. I-Drop Water’s ultimate objective is to lead the establishment of a new drinking water industry that enables decentralised water purification and thereby lowers the price of safe drinking water, improving affordability, accessibility and availability for everyone. Please visit us at http://www.idropwater.com/.