Columbia Green raises $1.2M to expand ecoroof business

Enlarge Image

Vanessa Keitges, CEO of Columbia Green Technologies, said the company's $1.2 million investment round includes strategic investors. 

Columbia Green Technologies announced Monday the close of a $1.2 million Series B investment from existing backers and building developer The Ashforth Company.

Portland-based Columbia Green will use the money to continue to hire sales and training staff to meet demand. Hank Ashforth, executive vice president Ashforth Company, will join Columbia Green's board of directors.

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a trade group for the ecoroof industry, said the ecoroof market grew by 115 percent last year. Columbia Green's experience reflects that trend with total projects using its tray system ecoroof design for stormwater management hitting 45 last year, up from just 15 in 2010. The company expects to see 120 installations this year.

"Cities, including New York, are looking at ways to use technology to manage water runoff," said Vanessa Keitges, CEO of Columbia Green.

Keitges said Stamford, Conn.-based Ashforth, which counts downtown Portland office towers including PacWest Center and ODS Tower among its portfolio, is one of a number of strategic investors Columbia Green has sought out for their market experience.

"They understand buildings and the role they play in managing water on site," Keitges said.

Hank Ashforth said he was attracted to Columbia Green in part because of how the company is structured.

"They are as much a technology business as they are a 'green' business," he said. "It's really the technology and their patents that are of interest to me and to my company."

Ashforth added that water and stormwater treatment is an increasingly challenging proposition for many cities. And water is a personal passion of Ashforth, who served for many years as the chairman for Portland-based Freshwater Trust's board of directors.