Behring: Pure for Sure

“Essentially, our mission is to provide eco-responsible and quality hydration, available to all,” says Grégoire Genot, President of Behring Water. “We want to make available pure and natural water without the need for plastic. I think it’s disturbing that water is offered almost everywhere using public utilities and yet we all go around buying bottled water! A bottle of water could travel 800km to reach you, and even if you opt to recycle it, it will have to travel 800 more. Our products bacteriologically purify the water that reaches your water dispenser, with no need for plastic.”

Behring, based in Grenoble, specialises in water purification, be it in the form of a water fountain or just a device no larger than a beer can installed under your water dispenser. “With water fountains, where-ever you have stagnant water, there is likely to be a build-up of bacteria. That’s what our products tackle.” The unique combination of biofilm explosion and UV exposure that Behring proposes renders the water pure and of much higher quality.

“15 years ago when we started the business with the aim of replacing bottled water without jeopardizing bacteriological quality, to be honest, nobody really cared. It would have been the last thing people thought about at the time. Today, things are changing,” he explains. Behring have since installed their devices in more than 1000 companies and organisations across France, mostly in the health sector. The system works well, as proven by the fact that clients stay with them, maintaining and renewing the product. In 2021, the company estimates it will purify about 50 million litres of water and help avoid 1500 tonnes of plastic bottle waste.

But Behring is an innovative company, and is always looking to fine-tune and advance its products. With this in mind, Grégoire sought financial support in the form of a loan from crowd-lending platform October, backed by the EIF under the European Guarantee Fund, in order to invest in new technology: “Now we have the opportunity to renew our technology, replacing our traditional UV lamps by LED technology while keeping our differentiating patents. This will transform our range of products completely. To make this investment and to grow, we needed financing. We have been wanting to step out of the health sector in France alone, to go beyond France,” he says.

Building on a strong reputation on the back of its work in the French health sector, the company’s challenge is now to go global and take on the competition. “We’ve got a great car, but to get it running in the global race, we need to put fuel in it,” he adds.

Location: Grenoble,  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

Financial Intermediary: October

SME: Behring (France)

Sector: water

Number of employees: 33

Financing purpose: growth; product development

EU financing: EGF

For further information about EIF intermediaries in France, please refer to: http://www.eif.org/what_we_do/where/fr/index.htm