CIT’s Virginia Founders Fund is investing in a Bristol-based tech company

The Herndon, Va.–based Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) announced that its Virginia Founders Fund has invested in Virginia-based Micronic Technologies, a developer of sustainable water purification technology, a press release states. The Virginia Fund is the latest CIT GAP Fund that launched in 2018 and focuses on supporting companies with female, minority or veteran founders, or other entrepreneurs located in regions outside of Northern Virginia.

CIT’s Virginia Founders Fund Invests in Micronic Technologies to Improve Water Purification Technology: https://t.co/eKHJoZ7BPP @micronictech @ksorber pic.twitter.com/LuveHmvgkh

— Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (CIT) (@VirginiaIPC) January 16, 2019

Micronic Technologies said it will use this investment from CIT to finalize the design and fabrication of their flagship product, MicroEVAP, which removes virtually all contaminants from practically any water source and cleans it to potable water standards in one pass. It uses no membranes, filters or chemicals. The company said its tech can reduce wastewater volume by 95 percent, remove most contaminants by 99 percent and is projected to cost 65 percent less than competitive technologies.

CIT GAP Funds makes seed-stage equity investments in Virginia-based technology. Micronic Technologies is currently executing its second development grant with the Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission, a Virginia-based commission that promotes economic growth and development in tobacco-dependent communities, using proceeds of the national tobacco settlement, where this investment qualifies as a match. The company was founded after a humanitarian trip to Peru where CEO and Cofounder Karen Sorber witnessed the impact that living without clean water had on the lives and health of the people, especially young children, she said in a statement.

“Clean water is imperative in all corners of the world, and we see the potential for Micronic Technologies to have a huge impact on not only this sustainable water purification space, but on critical water resources,” said Thomas Weithman, managing director of CIT GAP Funds and CIO at MACH37 said in a statement. “Under the initial Tobacco grant, Micronic partnered with UVa-Wise, allowing faculty and students to be involved in conducting water quality testing, creating simulations and collecting data – giving students hands-on experience that will ultimately help grow future leaders to preserve a natural resource.”

The tech has already been tested with potential customers and has demonstrated its efficient purification of contaminated water sources. With funding from the Virginia Founders fund, Micronic Technologies said it plans to place MicroEVAP at EPA’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory for evaluation, as well as customer pilot sites.