Tacoma startup Aquagga has figured out a way to remove pollutants that may be linked to harmful health effects in humans and animals from the world's waterways. And the company is starting right here in Puget Sound.
The nine-person company is part of an emerging "blue economy," which promotes the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth.
As it gears up at its Tideflats facility, Aquagga (pronounced QUA-ga) is also removing a few high-tech workers from Seattle.
“We have people coming down from Seattle to work with us,” said co-founder and CEO Nigel Sharp. “We offer the opportunity to work with a company that is making environmental and social impacts.
"But our work also shows that there is a potential for a blue economy here in Tacoma," Sharp said. "That is a huge plus. Tacoma can be an innovation nexus. There is a niche to be built around the blue economy, especially here in a more gritty, industrial city.”
The region is rich with highly skilled, high-tech workers, he said. The idea is to take advantage of this local high-tech workforce and build an economy that focuses on the maritime industry.
For the Tacoma Maritime Innovation Incubator program, that’s all part of the plan.
Aquagga was in the first cohort of startups to participate in the incubator, which is part of the Washington state Department of Commerce's Maritime Blue initiative. The Seattle-based nonprofit strategic alliance is designed to develop maritime business and technology.
The idea behind the incubator is to create a Tacoma and the Pierce County innovation ecosystem and welcoming environment full of maritime industry startup founders, Josh Carter, program director for the accelerator, recently told the Business Journal.
“This is the answer to the tremendous amount of attrition happening in the maritime space,” he said. “We need to fill the jobs with the young folks of tomorrow so that the attrition will not accelerate. In the past, this was a hard industry to get into.”
The incubator is looking to reverse that trend while focusing on ways to increase overall efficiency in port operations.
To boost this effort, Tacoma government and business leaders are gauging the feasibility of enhancing the city's Tideflats area with a private 5G computing network. If it happens, it would allow businesses to better utilize maritime technology. The investment would make Tacoma's port the only one in the Western Hemisphere with 5G technology — an improvement that could grow maritime-based innovation and economic development in the region.
Aquagga, which is named after an extinct subspecies of the zebra family, is the kind of business the city is looking to attract. Aquagga has developed technology that destroys pollutants known as polyfluoroakyl substances (PFAS). These so-called “forever chemicals" were designed to resist heat, oil, stains and water. They are found in nonstick pans, firefighting foam and even raincoats. They leach into drinking water supplies and end up in plants and local waterways.
“People always talk about unicorn businesses,” Sharp said “But zebras are the new movement. Zebras are black and white. Black is the for-profit part, but white is for having a purpose. I don’t mean to make PFAS sound scary, but the chemicals don’t incinerate well and if it’s transported to a landfill it will leach out."
