DDI Heat Exchangers

Erwin Schwartz
Montreal, QC

The pitch

Erwin Schwartz from Montreal, QC, pitched DDI Heat Exchangers in Season 12, Episode 1, asking the Dragons for $140K for 10% of the company.

Asked for$140K for 10%
Valuation$1.4Mimplied by the ask
OutcomeDealwith Arlene Dickinson, Manjit Minhas, Michael Wekerle and Jim Treliving
Final deal$200K for 20%valued at $1M

Offers in the Den

Dragon	Offer	Result
Joe Mimran	Concerned the founder needs too much operational help	Out
Michele Romanow	No offer detailed, deferred to others	Out
Arlene Dickinson	$140,000 for 20%	Declined
Manjit Minhas	$140,000 for 50%	Declined
Michael Wekerle	Full ask $140,000 for 10%, to join with Arlene if she partnered	Declined
Jim Treliving	$140,000 for 10%, open to joining with up to two others for 15%	Declined

Erwin Schwartz of Montreal, QC asked for $140,000 for 10% of DDI Heat Exchangers, a company that makes heat exchangers recovering heat energy from wastewater, including grey water and black water from showers, dishwashers and toilets, for reuse in reheating incoming water. The company has historically sold heat exchangers to municipal wastewater treatment facilities, generating about $4.5 million in sales since 2005 with a 30 to 50% markup and about 25% net profit; the new business model offers hotels and hospitals the heat exchanger for free and shares the resulting energy savings 50-50, financed by DDI.

Joe Mimran went out over concerns the founder needed too much operational help. Arlene Dickinson offered $140,000 for 20%, and Manjit Minhas offered $140,000 for 50%. Michael Wekerle and Jim Treliving separately offered $140,000 for 10%, open to combining with others. After negotiation, all four remaining Dragons Arlene Dickinson, Manjit Minhas, Michael Wekerle and Jim Treliving joined together and Erwin Schwartz accepted $200,000 for 20% from the group.

Pitch details from CBC’s Dragons’ Den pitch page.