Jonathan Ballesteros is the inventor, founder, and CEO of Geyser Systems, a manufacturer of portable water systems. When the company obtained a large contract with REI Co-op, Ballesteros turned to the small-business lender B:Side Fund for a loan to expand production.

Geyser Systems designs and manufactures products that address real-world problems faced by 2.3 billion people: water-scarcity and sanitation. Their flagship product is a hot, portable shower that uses less than one gallon of water and is ready to use in as little as five minutes. 

“While living in the back of a van in Australia, I regularly encountered the problem of water running out before food or fuel,” said Ballesteros. “So I started designing a new way to take a hot shower. Six months and six prototypes later, I had a real solution that was totally different than what was on the market.”

Ballesteros’s product solved a problem for people who love the outdoors, but he was inspired to take the idea further. Geyser Systems, now with a team of designers, aims to help people living in water-stressed regions of the world. The team believes that its technology can redefine everyone’s approach to water.

“We have a vision that by 2030, our products will be a solution to water scarcity,” said Ballesteros.

The direct loan from B:Side Fund was the bridge to the company’s first major win: delivering the purchase order to REI.

“We were just weeks away from completing the contract,” Ballesteros said. “No one would provide manufacturing or trade financing. Investors said we were too risky. Traditional banks wouldn’t touch the project. I had to tell my employees that I could no longer meet payroll; we couldn’t even afford toilet paper! And then, B:Side Loan Officer, ViLinh Lu, came into our life. She turned around our loan in mind-blowing time.”

Since then, Geyser Systems has continued to grow with a nationwide presence, and Ballesteros has even bigger plans for the future. The company is looking into exporting to Europe and Canada, and it also wants to tap into other market segments.

“For example,” said Ballesteros, “we could introduce this to firefighters to clean the carcinogenic soot off their skin after a firefight. They are five times more susceptible to cancer because of this, and Geyser Systems could be a solution.”

B:Side Fund takes pride in creating an even playing field for entrepreneurs like Ballesteros. Through a combination of grants, program-related investments, and loans from its funding partners, B:Side Fund has created new capital opportunities that specifically target underserved communities. Assessment of loan readiness is based on the businesses’ management, business model, and ideas for growth. Loans range from $20,000 to $350,000.

B:Side Capital, a sister organization of B:Side Fund, works with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) as a Certified Development Company to offer SBA 504 loans for owner-occupied commercial real estate purchases, renovations, and construction. The SBA 504 loan can also be used to purchase machinery or equipment, finance land, and update energy efficiency in owner-occupied commercial buildings.

Learn more about B:Side Fund and its sister organization B:Side Capital. For information about Geyser Systems, go to geysersystems.com.