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$30M to help KofP firm replace the old 5-gallon water cooler

Anthony Ibarguen is building and buying a national network of water-treating systems

    by Joseph N. DiStefano
    Published 
Quench, a King of Prussia firm run by Safeguard Scientifics veteran Anthony Ibarguen, says it's raised  $17 million in equity and $12.5 million in borrowed money as it builds and buys a national network of "no-bottle" office water systems, which use activated charcoal, ultraviolet light and, sometimes, reverse osmosis to freshen common tapwater, as a cheaper replacement for the familiar five-gallon jugs trucked into offices and factories.

Quench has installed 50,000 systems, including 8,000 in the Philadelphia area, at Comcast Corp., the University of Pennsylvania and other employers, chief operating officer Todd Peterson told me.

The new money, on top of more than $50 million in previous equity investment, comes from David Lincoln's Element Partners in Radnor, British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Green Fund, veteran US and Caribbean water-systems investor Douglas Brown, who serves as Quench's chairman, and other current investors, plus new investors Orix Venture Finance of Washington DC, Advent-Morro Equity Partners of Puerto Rico, Potomac Energy Fund of Frederick, MD. and Pohlad Cos., Minneapolis.
Why King of Prussia? "Quench Co. started as a roll-up of seven companies that were all regional (water-systems) dealers," and moved from Indianapolis to King of Prussia, where one of its predecessor firms was based, when nearby Element first invested in 2008. 
Quench employs "nearly 200," about one-third in the Philadelphia area, Peterson told me. The total "could be 300" by the end of 2012. Quench is less labor-intensive than the five-gallon jug: "We visit once a year to service, mostly."
    JN
    Joseph N. DiStefano