120WaterAudit lands $7M in funding
ZIONSVILLE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Zionsville-based 120WaterAudit LLC has closed on a $7 million Series A round of funding. The company says it plans to use the funding to enhance its digital water cloud platform and expand sales and marketing efforts. The funding round was led by Indianapolis-based HG Ventures, with participation from Allos Ventures in Indy and California-based Greenhouse Capital Partners.
120WaterAudit’s platform includes software and testing kits to help government agencies, public water systems and schools, among other clients, manage their drinking water programs. In a news release, Chief Executive Officer Megan Glover says the funding will allow the company to continue optimizing its current capabilities and expand into other industry and water management programs on a national scale.
One of 120WaterAudit’s primary focuses is helping schools manage the lead levels in their drinking water systems. In a recent interview with Business of Health Reporter Kylie Veleta, Director of Environmental Policy and Programs Erica Walker said while Indiana does not require public schools to test for lead by law, the state does provide assistance.
“The Indiana Finance Authority in 2017 offered voluntary testing assistance to all public schools and that included the cost of sending out field teams to collect the samples, analyzing those samples and then helping schools understand what the results meant and what they could do,” said Walker. “During that program, about 50% of school districts participated and about 60% of those had a least one fixture that had lead concentrations over 15 parts per billion, and that is the threshold that the U.S. EPA uses to regulate water utilities.”
The company’s software helps clients manage their drinking water programs by recording information about fixtures and tracking remediation efforts, among other services. The company also physically helps with sampling and reporting.
120WaterAudit manages water systems at more than 150,000 locations across 12 states. The funding round is the latest success for the company, which won the Rise of the Rest pitch competition nearly two years ago and also took the top prize in the pitch competition at the ImagineH20 global accelerator earlier this year.
“We have followed the 120WaterAudit story closely over the past few years and have been consistently impressed with their environmental vision and dedication to making communities safer and more aware of the quality of water they’re delivering to residents,” Kip Frey, managing partner of HG Ventures, said in a news release. “This partnership comes at a time where advanced digital technology is critical to ensuring the well-being of our current communities and future generations. We look forward to working hand-in-hand with 120WaterAudit to continue driving the company vision forward and improving the quality of today’s water supply.”
As a result of the funding round, Frey and Allos Ventures Managing Director David Kerr will join the 120WaterAudit Board of Directors.