Tributes for late co-founder after firm's $11m deal

Geoffrey Logan (left) and Trevor Logan. Photo / Supplied

The co-founder of an Auckland technology firm which has just been bought by a US rival has paid tribute to his brother and business partner, who was killed in a plane crash a few months before the $11 million deal was struck.

Pipe profiling company CleanFlow Systems has been purchased by RedZone Robotics for a combination of cash and shares.

CleanFlow makes robotic devices which travel down wastewater and stormwater pipes taking photographs and using laser and sonar readings to pinpoint cracks, holes and blockages.

The company's co-founder Geoff Logan was killed in a crash off Orewa beach in March.

Co-founder and chief executive Trevor Logan said: "Geoff was my elder brother and friend for 43 years and my business partner for 12 years."

Geoff was relentless in pushing the company along with developments such as the company's FlyEye device, he said.

"Now it is the leading inspection tool bar none in our industry and the reason for the successful sale of the company."

Albany-based CleanFlow has 10.5 full-time equivalent staff and turnover of about $4 million, compared to $20 million expected at RedZone this year.

"Independently each company is respected in the industry, but our combined solutions will enable us to be a truly global leader with the ability to serve clients of every size, and across the globe," Logan said.

The company would stay in New Zealand and Logan would join RedZone's board and focus on product development, he said.

As pipes aged, the market for the company was growing, he said.

"They've all been put in the ground in the last 100 years and so they're all corroding over time and the good thing about it is the market's just getting bigger all the time."

The company's technology was used after the earthquakes in Christchurch.

"They thought the pipes were full of liquefaction and they used our sonar system and what we were actually able to show them was it wasn't liquefaction, it was the pipes had gone up like a stack of cards, concertinaed up," Logan said.

CleanFlow started at Massey University's business innovation centre, ecentre, at Albany.

"The support we received from being based at the ecentre was critical in getting through the first tough years," Logan said. "We will continue to build our research and development capability with graduates from Massey University's top engineering degrees."

Steve Corbett, chief executive at Massey University's Ecentre, said the company's story was inspirational.

"CleanFlow has evolved from two entrepreneurs whose early prototypes were test driven for days in the water-filled gutters of Ecentre to test their water resistance, to a global company exporting to 36 countries," said Corbett.

"We need more entrepreneurs like Trevor and Geoff who are willing to take their ideas from garage to global."

RedZone chief executive Eric Close said the combination of the two companies made sense.

"Together we can provide all of the tools required for our customers to make sense of the world's abundant wastewater collection systems, which are all too frequently out of sight and out of mind."