In January, Imagine H2O, a company that partners with utilities, corporations, investors, academic institutions and associations to help bring new water technology to the market, announced a selection of 12 startups to advance to its 8th annual Accelerator Program.
More than 180 startups from 20 countries registered for the challenge. The startups will join the organization’s growing portfolio of 70 alumni companies, which represent over $1 in every $10 of early-stage investment in the water sector.
A lack of actionable data poses significant challenges to businesses, landowners and governments managing water resources globally. Entrepreneurs responding to this problem are applying advancements in sensors, artificial intelligence, enterprise software and other IT applications to the water sector.
The 12 finalists will be honored at Imagine H2O’s WaterGala ’17 on March 15 in San Francisco, where the organization will announce the Challenge’s overall winner.
“This is an impressive group of companies doing important work in their chosen area,” said Paul Gagliardo, innovation director at American Water and member of the judging panel. “Scaling their business through Imagine H2O’s program will be a unique opportunity to bring their innovations to market.”
Imagine H2O provides a proven path-to-market for early-stage water companies, with participants benefitting from executive mentorship, market visibility, investor introductions, and connections to Imagine H2O’s Beta Partners, a global network of companies and utilities committed to deploying water technology.
The 12 finalists advancing to Imagine H2O’s 2017 accelerator are Acoustic Sensing Technology (UK), AquaSeca, Arable Labs, EMAGIN, Flo Techologies, FREDSense, Hydromodel Host (Spain), Lotic Labs, PlutoAI, Sutro, Triple Bottom Line Enterprises (Ethiopia) and Utilis (Israel). Visit the Imagine H2O Accelerator website to learn more about the participating companies and their promising innovations.
Imagine H2O’s judging panel includes industry experts and leaders from, among others, XPV Water Partners, DC Water, True North Venture Partners, and IBM. The judges selected the finalists based on market viability, value proposition, and go-to-market strategy. All the team look forward to working with each of these companies to help them scale their impact in 2017.
To learn more about Imagine H2O, visit www.imagineh2o.org.
