WEGoT, a next-gen IoT-based startup offering integrated water management solutions in real-time to prevent and address the water crisis, closed $2mn seed funding. GoFrugal, Shyam Shekar from iThought, and Brigade Enterprises led the round. Other leading investors included Vibhu Natarajan, director at Grotech Landscapes, Rajagopal S from Entrust, Joydeep Ponugoti from Manbhum Constructions and PromodKumar who are industry experts in the real estate technology and consumer industries.
This capital infusion will be used predominantly to strengthen its IoT enabled product portfolio, scale its presence in India. The company also plans to invest in recruitment and hopes to double its employee base in the next 6-months for R&D and sales and marketing.
Five engineers – Vijay Krishna, Mohamed Mohideen, Abilash Haridass, Sundeep Donthamshetty and Selvakumar AB run WeGot and they aim to support the adoption of sustainable water use practices at residential and commercial properties using technology. WEGoT’s sensor-based Internet of Things (IoT) device and a software platform VenAqua, helps to reduce the demand for water by more than 50% by tracking real time flow. The granular data collected from various installations across residential and commercial buildings are analysed and the insights are shared with the end-users on a mobile app. As part of the process, people become more accountable and decrease their consumption by making real-time decisions. The company’s business model is innovative and has led to widespread adoption in the last couple of years. The solution is subscription based, wherein the company gives the product free and users pay nominal monthly fee of Rs 149 (Residential)/20 paise per sq-ft (Commercial) apart from installation charges.
“Everywhere around us, we see billboards and messages to save water, but nobody gives you an idea of where to start — a quantifiable and actionable way to do so. This is because we do not have access or insight to the right data to take the next step”, said Vijay Krishna, CEO and co-founder of WeGot. “India is gradually beginning to realize the importance of water and how to use it smartly. Traditional water meters detect air passing through pipes that causes errors in reading. In addition, leakages, abnormal usages & open taps are not detected by traditional water meters. WEGoT’s R&D team has solved this and has developed a high precision smart water meter that can provide data, which is of interest to multiple stakeholders: utilities, homeowners, insurance companies, maintenance providers, facility managers, government organizations, research foundations. Our solution is compatible with existing plumbing design and can be customized based on the requirement and helps reduce the demand for water drastically.”
Abilash, co-founder and chief of growth & strategy of WEGoT, said, “Because water is priced cheaply compared to other resources like electricity or fuel, we don’t take cognizance of the possible water crisis in future. It is this realization that led us to design our innovative water management technology. Our innovation helps gather information in real-time and makes it available on your mobile phone. This way, we help manage the water infrastructure in a building to consume water more efficiently. Water conservation will be a major issue in coming years and we have an immense growth opportunity by helping design more water-efficient buildings. Our vision is to change the way people and buildings use and experience this precious resource by implementing our smart water management solution across a million houses and save 10 Billion liters of water in next two years. Our funding from such prominent investors is just a testimony of that belief.”
Lead investor Kumar Vembu, co-founder GoFrugal said, “A recent water report states that 21 of the metro cities will run out of water by 2020 and majority of the Indian water resources will run dry by 2030. Given that residential usage accounts for a large portion of India’s water consumption, water is one luxury that needs to be conserved efficiently. We need a technology that will make people liable for misuse of water. WEGoT is addressing exactly this issue and we are very confident that their breakthrough technology will disrupt the way we perceive this vital resource.”
Nirupa Shankar, founder, Brigade’s Real Estate Accelarator Programme said, “According to the Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) report by Niti Aayog, the ongoing water crisis will severely affect India’s realty sector, even threatening developers working on major projects. So, commercial buildings today need to be adapted to a rapidly transforming landscape. Incorporating data-driven efficiencies in water management solutions holds great promise in the commercial real estate sector, and we strongly believe WEGoT is positioned to disrupt this space.”
