Local concrete waterproofing firm Alchemco pours into Indonesia with latest expansion

Crews applying Alchemco waterproofing products to a parking deck. (Photos courtesy Alchemco)

Nearly a decade after establishing his business in metro Richmond, Mario Baggio is firming up his concrete waterproofing company’s global reach.

The Brazilian-born owner of Henrico-based Alchemco earlier this year launched Alchemco Indonesia, expanding the 7-year-old company’s foothold in Southeast Asia.

The new business unit adds to an international footprint that includes production facilities in Brazil and Malaysia, as well as in Texas and Minnesota. Baggio said the company has about 100 salespeople in the U.S., with fewer than 10 at its headquarters at 3532 Mayland Court.

Mario Baggio

Baggio moved to Richmond in 2016 from Rio de Janeiro, where he had a distribution business that sold waterproofing products including TechCrete, a surface application created in North Dakota in the 1970s.

In the years following his move, Baggio purchased TechCrete and launched Alchemco as a new iteration of his business, investing $5 million into its Henrico HQ. Working with economic development group Greater Richmond Partnership, Baggio opted to stay in Henrico over other potential locations along the East Coast, which he had targeted for easier travel to and from Brazil.

In 2020, Alchemco acquired Tecnorap Sistemas Construtivos, a construction distributor in Brazil, furthering Alchemco’s reach that now extends to nearly 40 countries.

With the launch of Alchemco Indonesia, Baggio said the company is tapping into a growing construction sector in a country with the world’s fourth-largest population.

“We do a lot of business in developing countries, because they have to build everything,” Baggio said. “We also do a lot of business in countries that are already developed, like the U.S., because they have so much new construction and also so many 50-year-old bridges that they have to do something, otherwise the bridge is not going to be there for another 50 years.”

Baggio at a job site in 2023.

Alchemco’s products provide moisture protection that Baggio said lasts longer than traditional coatings and does not alter the appearance of concrete structures. Its TechCrete 2500, which this year won an Industry Choice Award at the annual World of Concrete Innovative Product Awards in Texas, is a surface-applied liquid that penetrates concrete to create a subsurface membrane that prevents water intrusion and corrosion.

“This technology is based on enzymes. You spray a liquid that has these enzymes, the enzymes penetrate the concrete and waterproof the concrete from the inside,” Baggio said.

Baggio, 38, said he was introduced to TechCrete when his father started using it as a general contractor in Brazil. Baggio started selling it through his distribution company and connected with its owner, who later agreed to sell the product line to Baggio.

“I realized that I was selling more of his product in Brazil than he was selling in the U.S. And the U.S. GDP is 20 times greater than the Brazil GDP, so it didn’t make any sense,” Baggio said. “I thought, the product is good, the product is working, we don’t need to prove the product; we need to market it properly.”

Alchemco reps at the VMI project.

The company’s primary clients in the U.S. are state transportation departments, though Baggio said the last couple years has seen more work with apartment buildings and other concrete structures. The company works with waterproofing contractors on those projects and trains them on proper application of its products.

Baggio said Alchemco’s products have been used by the Virginia Department of Transportation and on several parking decks along Cary Street in Richmond. Earlier this year, it was working with Virginia Military Institute to waterproof all of the college’s buildings. Baggio said the VMI project represented about $500,000 in sales for Alchemco.

“In Virginia, we do a lot of water tanks, wastewater treatment plants, bridges, parking structures,” Baggio said. “Every concrete structure, from a bridge to a rooftop to a balcony to a swimming pool, you need to waterproof to protect. If you decide to (do nothing), the concrete is going to last 20 years instead of 100.”

Having expanded its reach to nearly 40 countries in seven years, Alchemco has been keeping up a pace of entering a new market about every other month.

Baggio, who declined to disclose the company’s revenue numbers, said there’s still room to grow.

“We are a small business. We are not selling $100 million a year yet,” he said. “One of my goals is I see the potential of this product to become the waterproofing standard for concrete structures.”

The post Local concrete waterproofing firm Alchemco pours into Indonesia with latest expansion appeared first on Richmond BizSense.