February 7, 2019

Ketos, the developer of the world’s first water intelligence platform, announced it has raised $9 million in funding from a list of venture capitalists, impact investors, and industry leaders.

Participating in the round were existing investors, Rethink Impact and Better Ventures; new investors, Broadway Angels and Plum Alley Ventures; along with strategic angel investors from Water.org, and the semiconductor industry, as well as an investor represented by Energy Innovation, an energy and environmental policy firm.

Founded in San Francisco, and led by tech executive and entrepreneur Meena Sandaran, who serves as company CEO, Ketos’ platform offers actionable real-time water monitoring and analytics, with the goal of creating a more efficient water management system for agricultural and industrial businesses.

“Clean, safe water is essential. However, a host of activities—including fracking, mining, landfills, pollution, runoff, excess pesticides and fertilizers—are potential dangers to our water resources. Leapfrogging the incomplete and fragmented water testing and monitoring technologies of the past, KETOS will help ensure we can meet water safety needs and standards,” stated Hal Harvey, CEO of Energy Innovation.

Through its platform, Ketos can precisely detect and measure more than 20 parameters to laboratory requirements, and has analyzed more than one million water quality tests across more than one million gallons of water from 130 deployments across India, Mexico, and the U.S.

“Water is both the most powerful and most important compound on earth, and access to clean water is fundamental to health, education and economic development,” stated Tony Stayner, an active investor in clean water initiatives, and Water.org board member. “Bringing novel scientific and technological advances into every pipe and grid within our evolving water infrastructure, KETOS is the future of a clean, sustainable global water system.”

Its real-time water safety management solution includes an early warning system that flags for a comprehensive list of contaminants and heavy metals. It also offers insight to operators on the best filtration and remediation actions; how to manage crop yields efficiently; the cost effective measures to take on process control; and with predictive maintenance capabilities, is able to prompt users to proactively repair pipes at appropriate times.

Additionally, Ketos’ Wave Fabric, an innovative software fabric house in-line within pipes, offers real-time water utilization data, leak detection, and remote water supply management. Ultimately, Wave Fabric is able to give operators a deeper understanding of consumer behavior, water distribution, flow and pressure parameters, and utilization forecasts.

Breakthroughs in data analytics and remote sensor technologies allow us to reimagine how to manage, protect and treat our water supply,” said Heidi Patel, partner at Rethink Impact. “KETOS will reshape the global water supply as it increases efficiencies, reduces risk and improves sustainability—providing incredible benefits for its commercial customers and the planet.”

The company plans to use the funds raised to drive the emergence of a new era in water safety and efficiency. Toward this end, Ketos will accelerate the global market penetration of its patented sensors and machine learning analytics platform, and to expand its team.

“The first step is to measure and understand what is actually in our water at any given moment – it might sound simple, but it is incredibly challenging, and water testing solutions have been unable to give the full picture for decades,” said Sankaran. “Water intelligence that immediately reveals the presence of hazardous toxins, delivers actionable warnings for live decision making while providing proactive metrics and insights is the foundation for smart water management. Our secure cloud-based solution empowers our customers, from industrial and agriculture to civic and commercial, with the water data they need to effectively measure, control and optimize our most precious resource … water.”

-Lynda Kiernan