WaterSmart Raises $900,000 To Help Utilities Promote Efficiency

May 18, 2011
By TechCrunch.com

WaterSmart Software, a green tech startup that’s frequently compared to the energy management startup OPOWER has closed a $900,000 round of seed financing led by Menlo Incubator and joined by Sand Hill Angels, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Physic Ventures.

The company’s co-founder Peter Yolles explained the concept of the technology in an interview with TechCrunch ahead of the funding announcement:

Another WaterSmart Software co-founder, Rob Steiner said:

WaterSmart’s executives found — through a combination of the company’s own research and outside market intelligence — that a typical household of 4 people including children in the U.S. will use between eight and ten thousand gallons of water per billing month, and that in most U.S. markets, the price of water is going up 1.5 times faster than any other utility bills each year. They believe they can help utilities and consumers reduce water consumption by 2 percent, this year.

Does that amount to significant savings on a dollar basis? In some markets more than others, perhaps.

According to Circle of Blue: “In the last year, the price of water in 30 U.S. metropolitan areas has increased an average of 9.4 percent for residential customers with medium consumption levels… Yet the median increase for medium consumption was 8.6 percent.”

Steiner said the startup will use its new-found capital to complete pilot projects already under way with major water utilities in California, and to get beyond the proof of concept phase with their technology. They also seek to hire ten people this year; they currently have six full-time employees and are based in San Francisco.

Not affiliated with the WaterSmart Innovations conference, or U.S. Department of Interior program to help states and water companies adhere with the SECURE Water Act — WaterSmart Software won the inaugural, ImagineH2O competition in May 2010. The competition rewards businesses with technology that can curb, and help people cope with a growing, global water crisis.

Scott Bryan, director of operations with ImagineH2O said:

Serial startup CFO, and angel investor Steve Bennet, with both Menlo Incubator and Sand Hill Angels, said the company locked the substantial seed round because:

“The co-founders are water geeks with a lot of domain expertise. They had already developed a great portal, and analytics. They also managed to sign up two, municipal water providers to homeowners in Northern and Southern California to use their software. Having these pilots lined up made us enthusiastic. Though there are a lot of unknowns, here, the investment will help the company get proof points about how well software, including some game dynamics, can drive efficiency.”