StormSensor, an early-stage stormwater sensor technology company that helps cities manage water challenges, has landed an investment from Sofia Fund, an angel investment group focusing on women-led companies. Sofia Fund has become part of StormSensor's most recent fundraising round, which has raised a total of $2.6 million. The funding will help StormSensor, founded by engineer and environmental consultant Erin Rothman, scale to meet the needs of cities struggling to meet the challenges of rising sea levels and increasing storm and flood trends that are a consequence of changing climate patterns.
StormSensor uses sensors placed within stormwater infrastructure to design smart urban watersheds, mapping how water moves through cities. The cloud-based technology replaces traditional spot-check methods of monitoring at stormwater and wastewater locations. The data gathered provides analytics like real-time alerts 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,” says 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 US, including Jersey City, NJ, 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,” says 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.
