Investment will help the startup scale to meet market demand for water management as climate continues to change
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JANUARY 28, 2019 (Seattle and Minneapolis) – Engineer and female founder Erin Rothman and her early-stage technology company that helps cities manage water challenges, StormSensor, has landed its next investment – from angel investment firm Sofia Fund. The new funding will help the company scale to meet the needs of cities struggling to better understand rising water levels and torrential rains that are increasingly more common as climate patterns continue to change.
Sofia Fund, a leading angel investment group that focuses exclusively on women-led companies, is part of StormSensor’s most recent fundraising round, which has raised a total of $2.6 million. StormSensor designs smart urban watersheds by mapping how water moves through cities with technology that uses sensors placed within the infrastructure. Its technology is cloud-based and replaces traditional methods of spot checks of stormwater and wastewater locations that can be inaccurate, manual and expensive. The gathered data provides powerful analytics, such as real-time alerts for managing during extreme weather conditions and long-term information on how a city’s water system is performing.
“Erin and her company perfectly fit the Sofia Fund criteria for investing: female-founded with proprietary technology for an unmet market need that is growing,” said Cathy Connett, CEO and partner at Sofia Fund. “The company’s strong management team has proven out its methodology so that new customers can confidently sign on and start realizing benefits immediately.”
StormSensor technology is used in cities in Canada and the U.S., including Jersey City, New Jersey, which has prioritized sustainable planning through a variety of infrastructure improvements and communication tools.
“Addressing complex city management issues, such as climate change preparedness and building green infrastructure, requires the latest innovation,” said Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop. “We benefit when emerging companies like StormSensor work with us as a forward-thinking city to be proactive in solving issues on behalf of our community.”
Jersey City uses StormSensors’ network to map high-risk locations for flooding and sewer overflows, and prioritize and quantify the value of retrofits as part of their Long-Term Control Plan (LTCP) to reduce flooding and sewer overflows and implementation costs. As its LTCP progresses, Jersey City will leverage the StormSensor network to measure the success of those efforts, while applying data to develop a more sustainable community as they continue to deal with the results of climate change.
“As additional cities adopt this technology and datasets begin to formulate, Jersey City will be eager to understand national trends, best practices and interventions that are working well in other coastal cities,” adds Fulop.
StormSensor founder Rothman says the Sofia Fund investment will be put toward expanding its reach with communities across the country, while continuing to develop high-value insights that these cities can use both on a daily basis and for long-term planning of future capital expenditures as they build for resiliency.
“StormSensor is a case study on how women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) can realize their dreams of starting and scaling businesses that address real-world problems while realizing great profit potential,” said Connett. “We’re thrilled to do our part in funding them on the journey and we encourage other investors – particularly venture capitalists, who only give 2.2 percent of their support to women-owned companies – to recognize the impact of these businesses, including the return they can provide to their investors.” Connett cites research that indicates venture capital performance improves as the ratio of investments in women-led companies increases.
About Sofia Fund
Sofia Fund invests in and grows exceptional women-led companies to maximize returns for investors by bringing its portfolio companies successfully to profitable exits. Sofia Fund uses a rigorous process for selecting and investing in high-growth, technology-driven opportunities. Its team of professional women angel investors actively manages and supports its portfolio businesses, leveraging deep expertise and broad networks to help women entrepreneurs achieve success. Its investment team has invested more than $13 million in 70 companies to date. For more information about Sofia Fund, visit www.sofiafund.com.