Where are they now? Fixed earth innovations
Winning Tech Challenge Opened doors and validated technology
By Stacy Vogel Davis, Communications Director
Welcome to the next entry in our Where Are They Now? series. This time we’re featuring Fixed Earth Innovations. Fixed Earth won our fall 2020 Tech Challenge with its solution to remediate PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.” Since then, the company has expanded into the U.S., brought in Cimbria Capital (a member of The Water Council) as a shareholder and more. President Timothy Repas also sat on the PFAS panel at our 2022 Water Leaders Summit. Check out our interview with Daniel Lanman, Fixed Earth executive vice president, below. Click here to read our previous entry about German startup PYDRO.
Tell us about Fixed Earth Innovations.
Fixed Earth was founded in late 2019 and is Canadian owned and operated. Our specialty is providing microbial expertise and ecological restoration techniques with a focus toward client-driven research into global contaminants. Essentially, we combine our unique ability to acquire site-specific microbes with other existing technologies to provide the best possible solution to environmental challenges faced by our clients. Though primarily we’ve been recognized for our remediation of PFAS and other organic pollutants, we also operate in water treatment systems, as well as organic fertilizers to increase agricultural yields and enhance crop resistance.
We’ve been working in the U.S. for the past two years and have just completed our first field pilots (one for Wood PLC and the State of Michigan, and the other for the 115th Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard and Dane County Airport in Wisconsin).
What did winning the Tech Challenge mean for Fixed Earth?
Breaking into the U.S. market has always been a top priority for us. The number of doors it opened was immeasurable. Winning the Tech Challenge helped validate our technology and placed us directly into networks that we otherwise would likely have taken years to penetrate.
It continues to prove a cornerstone for us in establishing a foothold with prospective clients who now recognize our techniques as legitimate.
What has happened with the company since then?
We’ve managed to grow by hiring three more employees, and we have given talks and sat on panels across the United States. Fixed Earth established a U.S. subsidiary, which now counts Cimbria Capital (a member of The Water Council) as a shareholder.
Currently we are in the process of forming a jointly owned company with Orin Technologies (a new member of The Water Council), as our two technologies have proven symbiotically beneficial by doubling the effectiveness of both when paired together. With the help of Cimbria, we’ve named this new company Onur Solutions, to operate under a single brand for our clients.
What’s next for Fixed Earth?
It’s been a whirlwind and quite exciting for us to date, with a lot of work and assistance from clients and allies in multiple areas of expertise. Shortly we start our first full-scale job, post-piloting, with plans to scale and remediate the biosphere in areas impacted by PFAS contamination across North America.
We hope to keep Fixed Earth dynamic and on the cutting edge. We’re bringing preliminary research into new technologies we’re designing in markets where we already operate, as well as new markets we’ll begin breaking into with the strength we build as the company grows.
How has membership in The Water Council benefited the company?
The Water Council has a global reach, contacts and resources unparalleled compared to many other organizations. Its mission is critical to the health and safety of our species and planet. Being a party to that, alone, has assisted in nearly every aspect of our company and reaffirmed our commitment in all we pursue.
