Watergate

The water hardware company thats grown to £0.5m in revenue in its first 9 months

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Today’s feature is an early-stage hardware startup that is helping individuals and businesses save money by reducing their water consumption and wastage.

The Market

  • In the UK over £100bn is spent every year on water.

  • It’s recently been announced that water bills are set to increase by 36% over the next few years.

  • Over 30% of all drinking water is wasted through leakages.

This week's business solves two major problems: 

  • Leakage: Water leaks are spotted and stopped by their flagship product Watergate Sonic, which uses ultrasonic to detect leaks

  • Overconsumption: Users can track their usage and consumption via their phone, leading to an average reduced consumption of 30%

One Liner

  • Watergate exists to protect people’s property and the planet’s most precious resource, one drop at a time. All controlled from a phone or desktop.

  • Its first product is a smart stop valve that allows property owners/occupiers to monitor, and turn water on/off remotely from anywhere.

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Quickfire

  • Headquarters: London

  • Employee count: 20

  • Investors: Multiple angel investors + Diomedes Capital

  • Funding amount: £1.8m to date

  • Business model: D2C to homeowners, and B2B to property & hospitality businesses

  • Traction metrics: 

    • £500k of revenue generated in the first nine months of operation

    • 4.5* rating from B2C customers who are using Watergate

    • Signed multiple businesses across:

      • Build-To-Rent (including the world’s largest real estate operator - Greystar)

      • Hospitality

      • Short-term Lets and other verticals.

Due Diligence

APPEALS

  • Success of Adjacent Products: Similar home devices that are now connected to the internet and our phones (e.g. thermostats, doorbells, lights etc..) have seen considerable success.

  • Market Timing: Water prices are about to increase at the fastest rate in modern history making excessive water bills a real problem for many people

  • Founder - Problem fit: The founder is an exited founder who has spent his entire career building and selling smart devices

POTENTIAL RISKS

  • Low Awareness: Most consumers and businesses do not view water bills or overconsumption as a big to problem to solve.

  • Supply Chain: Scaling production to meet demand while maintaining product quality can be challenging for hardware businesses.

Competition

There is limited, but growing, competition in this space with devices that range from just leak detection to full-on smart systems:

  • Leak Bot - Will locate and alert users of leaks, but is unable to switch off the water remotely

  • Moen Flo - A similar smart leak detection device that enables users to switch water off from their phones. It doesn’t have the same level of precision nor the level of analysis that Watergate has.

Founder

  • Krystian Zajac - Founder and CEO, exited founder (sold Insurtech Neos Aviva) with vast experience in the IoT space.

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Written by Luke & Seb