At Work With Water: Ed Quilty, MOBILTEX

At Work With Water is a series focusing on incredible people who are making a difference for water. In each edition of XPV Water Partners’ newsletter, we’ll speak with a person from one of our portfolio companies who is doing things differently – ensuring that the water sector continues to evolve, thrive, and meet global challenges with innovative solutions. 

Seasoned CEO and entrepreneur Edward Quilty recently joined MOBILTEX, a leading provider of innovative IIoT hardware and software solutions for cathodic protection, pipeline integrity, and pressurized pipeline remote monitoring.

Under Ed’s leadership, Aquatic Informatics (also an XPV portfolio company, until it was acquired by Danaher in 2020) grew to be the largest water data management, analytics, and compliance software company in the world. We spoke with Ed about his journey, MOBILTEX’s role in a water secure future, and his team’s top priorities for growing the company.

Having held leadership roles with Aquatic Informatics, Semios Biotechnologies, Danaher Corporation, and others, you bring a great deal of experience in scaling businesses and developing innovative solutions for water management. Can you tell us a bit about your career? What attracted you to water?

Water found me. I majored in biology at the University of Victoria. I’d landed a highly coveted summer position that involved tracking elk on Vancouver Island. Two weeks before I was scheduled to leave, the project funding fell through. When I returned to the co-op office, there was one job left. I accepted my fate, packed my things, and moved to the Kootenays for the summer to study the impacts of a copper mine on water quality.

It was a big change of plan, but when I saw what was happening, I wanted to know more. My boss gave me the freedom to try new ideas and tools. We invested in a continuous water quality monitor and developed a sampling program with more inputs from the ecosystem. I became intensely interested in understanding how human activity – from heavy industry to building cities to manufacturing goods to growing food – impacts water and what flows downstream.

After that summer, I was hooked. Over the next decade, I worked as aquatic ecologist, started a PhD, ran a business focusing on real-time water quality monitoring, and eventually founded Aquatic Informatics (AQI), a mission-driven software company that aimed to solve some of the biggest water challenges.

At AQI, we developed solutions to critical water data management, analytics, and compliance challenges, helping our customers collect, manage, and make better decisions with large volumes of data. The software continues to be used in more than 60 countries for monitoring water quantity (droughts and floods), water quality (environmental, municipal, industrial), and climatic conditions.

Danaher acquired Aquatic Informatics in 2020. What happened then?

At Aquatic Informatics our team focused on how we could make a difference by addressing specific water challenges. Along the way, I studied an entrepreneurial master’s program at MIT to learn how our team could make the company successful at scale.

Later when we joined Danaher it was an incredible opportunity to grow as a leader. Here I had the chance to apply what I’d learned at AQI and MIT. I also experienced how a global conglomerate with 75,000+ employees operates at true scale using their famous business systems. It was a long way from my early days as an entrepreneur, when I was handwriting cheques and assembling Ikea desks on the weekends.

Tell us about your decision to join MOBILTEX. What excites you most about this opportunity?

MOBILTEX has a customer-first culture, the team is smart, strong, and mission-driven, and the technology solves big problems. We’re in a great position to leap forward to the next stage of growth. The company reminds me a lot of Aquatic Informatics. Having experienced a similar journey, I’m excited to help MOBILTEX accelerate its success.

I’m also excited to again work with XPV Water Partners. When Aquatic Informatics partnered with XPV in 2017, I experienced the impact of the team’s growth platform. Having access to XPV’s collective expertise and the firm’s network played a big role in our success.

What are some of the things you’ve learned from leading world-class companies that you’re bringing to MOBILTEX?

I’m very market focused. I believe in NIHITO – Nothing Interesting Happens In The Office. Of course that’s not strictly true, but for a solution to succeed, it needs to address real pain points. And to understand those pain points, you’ve got to spend time with customers where they are work.

MOBILTEX has thrived because the team knows its customers. As we grow our business in the water sector, we’re focused on maintaining that culture. Everything must start with listening to our market and asking the right questions.

How is the team is building the business? What are your top priorities in the coming year or two?

MOBILTEX has developed an exceptionally robust suite of IIoT solutions. Our devices are reliable in remote and harsh environments. Our software powers actionable insights that help customers make better decisions about their assets. Combined with further innovation and some strategic acquisitions, we’ll be able to leverage existing MOBILTEX technology to provide best-in-class solutions for the water sector and give customers the insights they need to manage their systems effectively.

How does working with MOBILTEX align with your personal values and outlook?

Water is our most important resource. Helping people manage it better has been my life’s work. I’ve been fortunate to explore, from many angles, the data that can help us learn about how water and humans interact, and what happens when they do.

At AQI, we focused on the water-energy-food nexus, where there are competing interests for precious water, often at the costs of ecosystem health. At MOBILTEX, we’re double-clicking on the water-energy nexus, where utilities lose up to 30% water in their distribution systems through leaks and breaks. They’re using an incredible amount of energy to move and treat water, and this is typically one of their biggest operating costs, so there is a real opportunity to limit that water loss, reduce energy use and emissions, and extend asset life of pipes and pumps.

Earlier in my career, the market didn’t demand solutions, but things have changed. Utilities can no longer afford to lose water. They’re under increasing pressure to manage failing infrastructure, meet growing demand, protect human and ecosystem health, adapt to a changing climate, and introduce efficiencies with limited resources.

MOBILTEX is well-positioned to take on this challenge. The potential is huge, and the market seems ready. I’m excited for us to find the ways we can leverage our expertise.