The water tech startups and funders making a difference

Imagine H2O, one of the largest water incubators working across several countries, recently held their startup showcase day. Imagine H2O has been around for several years now and they have funded and helped promising startups in over 20 countries to date. They have several startups in their portfolio that have focused on using combined sensors or robots, machine learning and physical systems to solve problems around the world. In fact, this seems to be the focus of much of the innovation happening in the water tech sector recently!


Let’s take a look at some water tech startups from around the world.


AInWater: The startup focuses on using machine learning and traditional optimization algorithms to monitor waste water treatment plants and help improve the efficiency of their operations. They’ve been featured in Forbes and have been working with a number of water utilities in South and Central America.


CivilGrid: A fascinating company that builds a digital twin of utility lines, environmental hazards and permitting data to help contractors build and operate their systems more safely. They’re currently working in California, but have plans to expand more broadly


Some interesting companies that are using hardware and technology to build decentralized water treatment systems are Swajal in India and Ocean Oasis in Europe. Swajal uses an ATM-type approach and membrane filtration technology to deploy purified water treatment stations in rural communities in India. Ocean Oasis is a relatively young startup that is using wave energy to power small, offshore desalination plants to generate fresh water for coastal communities. Both these startups are attempting to serve populations that have not traditionally been served well by our current centralized infrastructure systems using innovative technical and business approaches.


Another interesting startup that focuses on the North American and European markets is Rainstick. Rainstick Shower uses a combination of efficient hardware, space-inspired water recycling systems and digital visualization tools to help individual homeowners reduce the water that they use in their homes.


There are a lot of interesting startups in different parts of the world that are attempting to solve problems related to water access, water infrastructure and water treatment in ways that are best suited to the local conditions. While the number of startups in the space has been increasing slowly, it’s heartening to see that they have been finding significant interest among the bigger players in the market.

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