Hbi, sludge recovery start-up targets revenues over 100 million in 2030

"We have just closed an investment round in which we have raised almost 15 million, exceeding the initial target of 10. Among the relevant investors are two Cdp Venture Capital funds (Green Transition and Evoluzione) Finanziaria Internazionale Investments Sgr and the entrepreneur Bruno De Guio, founder of Meb, who is reinvesting in the area." This is how Daniele Basso announced the capital increase of Hbi (Human Bio Innovation) start-up active in the field of sewage sludge recovery, of which he is CEO and which he founded in Bolzano in 2016 with Renato Pavanetto and technology partner Carretta.

He adds: 'Among the current shareholders, NovaCapital, Paolo Merloni's fund from Ariston, and Carretta itself, a Treviso-based mechatronics company that has been our technology partner since our foundation, have reinvested, a sign of the soundness of our business plan. Before this round we had raised around EUR 2 million. After having demonstrated the potential and scalability of our technology from a technical, regulatory and authorisation perspective, we are now making an important dimensional leap'.

It is a process that integrates hydrothermal carbonisation and gasification and allows the recovery from sewage sludge of nutrients that can be reused in agriculture and 85% of water, while producing a combustible gas that can be used to self-sustain the plant: adding matter and energy together, a recovery of over 90% is achieved.

"The 2024-30 business plan presented to investors envisages the construction of at least a couple of plants in Italy by 2025, for one we have already started the process, for the other we are well on our way to starting the procedure, in Italy, with estimated operations in 2026. We want to focus on Italy until 2026 and start looking abroad thereafter between 2027 and 2028. The goal is to reach 2030 by exceeding 100 million in turnover and to list ourselves on the stock exchange or evaluate other opportunities such as M&A operations,' Basso further explains.

The growth also reverberates on personnel: 'Today there are eight of us, there will be 14 by the end of the year and we will rise to around 20 between 2025 and 2026: all high-level profiles. In the industrial plan there is the intention to acquire the capacity to manufacture the core components of our technology: the reactors at the heart of the machine, a process manufacturing, niche, which will be developed at our Zero Branco (Treviso) site, while the engineering and R&D part is in Bolzano,' he continues.