Hearing the back-to-back presentations by two local companies, Gridlogix and Waste Remedies LLC, made some Invest Midwest attendees think that perhaps St. Louis has something going in the facilities-management space. Both companies were part of the alternative-energy track at Wednesday’s venture capital conference.

Carter Williams, president of Gridlogix, told potential investors how his company’s building-management software is saving the state of Missouri $15 million a year in energy and maintenance costs. The company is trying to raise $8 million to support its expansion, but Williams emphasized that the basic product is already proven, and has drawn interest from some “Fortune 50 companies.” After mentioning such potential partners as Honeywell, Emerson, Johnson Controls and Microsoft, he added:

If we succeed, we can go public. If we stumble, any one of these people are willing to buy us at a multiple that will give you a very nice return on your money.

If he’s a potential seller, Waste Remedies Chief Executive Tim Gray wants to be a buyer. He’s trying to raise $10 million to buy competitors. Waste Remedies  is a consulting firm that tells companies how to reduce their waste-disposal costs, partly by identifying inefficiencies such as too-frequent waste pickups and partly by diverting some waste materials to recyclers. Gray says that his firm is the No. 2 waste broker in the U.S., and that now is the time to expand:

Our platform is scalable, and there’s a very good opportunity at the moment to buy at the right price.