SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WaterSmart Software, the leading customer engagement solutions company for water utilities to educate customers on conservation, today announced the close of a $4.5M Series A led by The Westly Group. Also participating in the round were Physic Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), and Apsara Capital.
“This infusion of capital will help WaterSmart build on the success of the last year and bring our cloud-based customer engagement software to more water utilities across the country,” said Peter Yolles, Founder and CEO of WaterSmart.
WaterSmart provides cloud-based software to help water utilities engage their residential customers and make personalized recommendations on how to conserve water. WaterSmart’s technology has been proven to increase customer engagement by three times while also reducing residential water demand by as much as 5% in just 6 months.
The Company has announced contracts with utilities throughout California, Colorado and Texas including East Bay MUD, Irvine Ranch Water District, and the Cities of Sacramento, Davis and Newport Beach.
"WaterSmart has changed how we build relationships with our customers," said Fiona Sanchez of Irvine Ranch Water District. "Every conservation manager in the country will be surprised how easy it is to be so much more effective using WaterSmart."
WaterSmart uses behavioral science techniques to increase customer engagement, elevate consumer interest in saving water and money, and increase participation in utility-sponsored efficiency programs. WaterSmart’s enterprise product includes an analytics tool, which allows utility managers to view how their customers use water, track program performance and identify where efficiencies can be generated.
“WaterSmart has the potential to revolutionize how the entire water industry engages and educates its customers,” said Steve Westly, Founder of The Westly Group. “WaterSmart’s impressive traction and enthusiastic customer base bode well for rapid growth in the months and years to come.”
This is the third round of funding WaterSmart has announced. The Company, incubated by Menlo Incubator, also raised $900,000 in 2011 from Menlo Incubator, Sand Hill Angels, DFJ, and Physic Ventures; and $1.5M in 2012 from the same investors plus Apsara Capital. WaterSmart plans to use the Series A funds to expand its sales and marketing teams and bring its customer engagement platform to water utilities throughout North America.
Steve Westly will join the Board of Directors of WaterSmart, which already includes Andy Donner from Physic Ventures, Gary Kremen, founder of Clean Power Finance and Match.com, Henri Lambert of Apsara Capital, and Peter Yolles, WaterSmart’s Founder and CEO.
About WaterSmart Software
WaterSmart®
Software helps improve water utilities’ conservation outreach to
help their customers save water and money. WaterSmart’s core technology
is a turn-key, cloud-based platform that integrates water utility
metering and billing information. WaterSmart deploys sophisticated
analytics and behavioral science tools to municipal water suppliers in
cloud-based software. WaterSmart uses the power of social norms to
improve customer engagement, elevate consumer interest in saving water
and money, and increase participation in utility-sponsored efficiency
programs. The Company won Imagine H2O’s water efficiency prize in 2010
and recently was named an Artemis Top 50 Water Company. WaterSmart’s
solution is available to water suppliers throughout the U.S. and Canada
and can be deployed in less than a month.
About The Westly Group
The
Westly Group is dedicated to building companies that will solve the
world’s most pressing problems. From next generation electric vehicles
to healthy school meals, we invest in exceptional teams scaling
transformative technologies and business models. We believe in the power
of the passionate entrepreneur—whether sitting in a modern office tower
or a Silicon Valley garage—to change the world.
About Physic Ventures
Physic
Ventures provides capital and expertise to science-based,
consumer-driven health and sustainable living companies. WaterSmart
joins a number of innovative sustainability companies in the Physic
portfolio, including EnergyHub, a supplier of residential energy
efficiency solutions, Gazelle, the leader reCommerce company, and
Recyclebank, the leading environmental social platform for rewarding
green actions.
About Draper Fisher Jurvetson
DFJ
is a venture capital firm that partners with extraordinary entrepreneurs
who set out to change the world. Since 1985, DFJ and the DFJ
Global Network have had $7B committed to their funds and have managed
more than 400 portfolio investments, including AdMob, Baidu, Box, Skype,
Hotmail, SpaceX, Tesla Motors, SolarCity, Twitter, Tumblr and
Yammer. DFJ works with companies at seed, early and growth stages, with
the goal of creating iconic and lasting businesses. DFJ pioneers
investing in emerging markets including consumer and enterprise
information technology, digital media, and disruptive technologies. The
DFJ Global Network is a federation of 16 independent venture funds
operating on four continents that cooperate on investment diligence and
co-investing.
About Apsara Capital
Apsara
Capital LLP is a family office based in London.
About Menlo Incubator
Menlo
Incubator is a Bay Area new business incubator focusing on emerging
growth Companies. Menlo Incubator was founded by Steve Bennet (a.k.a.
“Professor VC”) and Gary Kremen (founder of Match.com, Clean Power
Finance, Sociogramics and other companies).
About Sand Hill Angels
Sand
Hill Angels is a group of Silicon Valley accredited investors who
are passionate about entrepreneurship and the commercialization of
disruptive new technologies, with early stage investments in promising
start-ups. With experience spanning all aspects of growing successful
companies -- from the formative stage through management of
multi-billion dollar enterprises -- Sand Hill Angels seeks to add value,
provide expertise and assistance to these fledging enterprises. The
investment focus includes Internet, Mobile Information Technology, Clean
Tech, Consumer, and Life Sciences. Sand Hill Angels works openly and
collaboratively with venture capital funds, angel organizations, and the
Bay Area ecosystem to foster the growth of technology start-ups.
