About
Our mission is to provide
long-term sustainable solutions for the health of aquatic ecosystems
EQO is an Austin-based company with a revolutionary platform that brings unprecedented sensitivity and specificity to detecting and quantifying the presence of aquatic species. EQO's platform provides solutions to water stakeholders responsible for watersheds, lakes and rivers with an automated means to continuously monitor for invasive species, native species, harmful algal blooms, microbiome alterations, and to interactively adjust response. This minimizes the cost of the program while at the same time reducing the amount of labor and treatment chemistry required.
"I worked in biopharmaceutical research for over ten years. When developing cures for cancer and congenital diseases, I never heard, 'why bother, death is inevitable.' So why is this something I’ve heard since working in water? Invasive species are cancer. Extinction events are organ failures. Water quality is drug safety. Water infrastructure is drug delivery. These are problems we face, persevere through, and solve in biotechnology."
--John Higley, Founder EQO
EQO expands biotechnology and data science past disease management and into saving aquatic ecosystems. These technologies protect public health, conserve aquatic ecosystems, protect commerce, and protect aquatic recreational areas. Water is life. EQO applies the same rigor and optimism of life saving biotech to aquatic ecosystems.
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Leadership

19 years innovation in biotech, previous start-up exited by IPO
John S. Higley, MSc
CEO

Brad Van, MBA
CFO
15 years experience in financial leadership at start-ups and in government

Erika Schwarz, PhD
Co-Founder
Molecular ecology expert. Developed probes used as standard by NOAA for toxic algae detection

Stefan Schuster, MSc
Co-Founder
20+ years experience marketing in the water and environmental
sector.
Advisory Board
David Altounian, PhD
St. Edward's University
Steven Carothers, PhD
Founder/Director SWCA
John Robinson
Founder/Partner, Mazarine Ventures