Water risk mitigation tool set for agricultural lenders and landholders

$2M seed funding round empowers AQUAOSO to further its water risk mitigation tool set for agricultural lenders and landholders

The capital will be used to further development of the company’s advanced Water Security Platform and other products, as well as continue geographic expansion

AQUAOSO Technologies, a public benefit water tech company that reduces financial risk for lenders and investors by providing insight into the impact of water stress (when demand outpaces supply), today announced the completion of a $2 million capital raise with the family office of Alex Smith and Jessica Haywood of Otter Creek Investments. AQUAOSO plans to leverage this investment to accelerate its vision of building a water resilient future through advanced technologies. 

AQUAOSO’s cloud-based software platform and proprietary Water Security Score™ are the first of their kind. The platform aggregates thousands of data sets to help organizations understand water risk in their investments, operations and supply chains by identifying the scale of water risk and its impacts down to an individual parcel of land. The platform ensures financial institutions spend 85% less time gathering data and 50% less time closing deals. 

“Water is the planet’s most precious resource, and AQUAOSO’s incredible growth signals the crucial market need for its water security analysis and reporting platform,” said Smith. Prior to leading the funding round for AQUAOSO, Smith and Haywood were part of the leadership team at STR, a data analytics company in the hotel industry, which was acquired last year for $450 million. Smith will also join the AQUAOSO board of directors. 

By finding innovative ways to more efficiently identify and monitor water risk, AQUAOSO experienced impressive growth in the past year. In spite of the myriad challenges 2020 forced the world to face, AQUAOSO extended its footprint beyond California into five new states, seamlessly transitioned to be a completely remote organization and added additional water, agriculture, technology and data experts to the team, which will continue to grow with this investment.

"We believe AQUASOSO strengthens and streamlines the modern agricultural economy by making data more accessible to empower wiser water decisions,” said Haywood. “AQUASOSO has built an amazing business for its customers today, and we are thrilled to bring our extensive experience in data analytics to the AQUAOSO board to help the company expand into other geographies and industries.”

According to the U.S. Intelligence Community Assessment of Global Water Security, by 2030 humanity’s “annual global water requirements” will exceed “current sustainable water supplies” by 40%, highlighting the importance of building a water resilient future.

“Climate change threatens every aspect of community health, the global economy and our natural environment,” said Chris Peacock, CEO of AQUAOSO. “Water risk is a primary indicator of climate change as we see through intensifying droughts, floods, fires and degrading water quality worldwide. These ultimately translate into investment risk, economic losses, reputational damage and supply chain interruptions.”

After participating in the 2019 Techstars Sustainability Accelerator in Partnership with The Nature Conservancy, AQUAOSO now serves more than 30 institutional customers representing some of the nation’s largest lenders, farm credits, community banks, global investment firms and national food brands. To date, the company’s innovative water risk management platform has generated nearly 7,000 reports and analyzed more than 2 million acres. For more information, please visit AQUAOSO.com. 

About AQUAOSO

AQUAOSO is water security simplified. In its simplest form, the company can be thought of as a credit score for water risk. AQUAOSO’s cloud-based water risk management software-as-a-service platform helps financial institutions understand the true impacts of water stress to mitigate investment risk and improve decision-making. By aggregating thousands of data sets, AQUAOSO empowers organizations to more accurately identify, track and manage water risk, thereby saving time and money. Based in Folsom, California and with dispersed team members nationally, AQUAOSO believes water is more than a commodity — it is the lifeblood that fuels the company’s passion to bring technology and transparency to the market in order to build a water resilient future. For more information, please visit AQUAOSO.com. 

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Taxonomy

• Risk Management
• Risk Management