WaterSmart, a software startup that uses meter data and behavioral science to nudge consumers to conserve water, has raised $7 million in equity, the company said Tuesday.
The San Francisco company creates a monthly or bi-monthly report that shows each water customer who much water he or she used in the previous billing period and compares that to prior months and years as well as to similar homes in the neighborhood. Research has shown that such comparison can effective modify behavior because people like to think they can use energy as efficiently as their friends and neighbors. The report also comes with water-saving tips.
A water bill historically tells people their water use, of course. But those numbers often don't come with context or language that helps to explain their significance and grabs consumers' attention.
"A pie chart that shows where your water is going helps to educate consumers and make them feel more informed," said Jeff Lipton, director of marketing at WaterSmart, explaining one of the ways to present data more effectively. "That raises the level of engagement that leads to greater savings."
In a pilot project at the East Bay Municipal Utility District in Northern California, WaterSmart demonstrated that its home report could reduce consumption by an average of 5%. That result — and the persistent drought in southwestern United States — has helped WaterSmart lining up other utility customers. Its other customers include the California cities of Sacramento and Glendale and Park City, Utah.
For Park City, WaterSmart added a leak detection service. The company uses meter and property data, such as the size of the home, its occupancy and the number of bathrooms, to figure out a certain period of unusual or excessive use of water; from there it could surmise whether there might be a leak. The service includes tracking whether those who received leak alerts followed up to fix the problems.
WaterSmart has about 40 customers, though not all of them have rolled out the home report service across their territories. Its service covers 2 million water meters in North America, which has over 100 million water meters. The company and others like it will likely win more attention from water utilities in states such as California, where state regulators are instituting a mandatory water use cut of 25% (compared to the 2013 levels) and funding technology that could help water districts to cut wasteful consumption.
The startup has raised $13.5 million in equity total since inception in 2009. Its investors include the Westly Group, Apsara Capital, Physic Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
