Virridy, a developer of technologies for monitoring and managing water, energy, and agricultural resources, has raised $5.5 million series A funding in a round led by Accord Capital to expand its offering across Africa and North America. The round also had the participation of a number of existing investors including FHI 360, Cleo Capital, Reverent Rock, Save Earth, and VertueLab.
Virridy (formerly SweetSense Inc), based in the U.S, will use the funding to introduce to new markets products like water e-coli sensors, and soil carbon sequestration sensors.
The e-coli sensors detect fecal contamination in water providing timely warnings to avert the spread of water-borne diseases which kill nearly one million people across Africa every year. The carbon sequestration sensor generates information on soil processes such as decomposition rates and soil carbon dioxide production.
Virridy founder and CEO, Evan Thomas. Image Credits: Virridy.
“We are excited that Virridy is enabling environmental markets, including carbon credits, energy incentives, and water permitting through our sensors and analytics. Our team was the first to bring to market carbon financing for water treatment 15 years ago, and are now supporting these markets at scale for water access and conservation, soil carbon, and energy conservation,” said Virridy founder and CEO, Dr. Evan Thomas, in a statement.
In Africa, the company’s technologies are already used in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria, where its satellite-linked borehole water monitors are used by government agencies and other partner organizations to ensure a sustained supply of the resource in drought-prone regions.
The company said that its technologies minimize water-supply breaks, and guarantees continuous supply to over 4 million people by providing critical information on usage and availability.
Accord Capital’s managing director Chris Lackner added: “Accord is excited to partner with Virridy to support its continued growth and innovation. We believe the management team’s significant collective backgrounds will enable SweetSense to become the leading sensor and data provider in environmental resource monitoring.”
Virridy’s partners include the National Science Foundation (NSF), USAID, The World Bank, NASA, the Millennium Water Alliance, Swarm Technologies,The Freshwater Trust, Wexus Technologies and the Kenyan government.