Virridy, Ecotech Startup Raises $5.5m Series A Round to Scale across Africa and North America 

Kenya and US-based environment tech startup, Virridy which is committed to improving the management of environmental resources through technology, has raised $5.5 million in a Series A funding round to accelerate the development and adoption of its satellite-connected sensors for managing water, energy, and agricultural resources across Africa and North America.

Part of the funds will also be used to introduce products like water e-coli sensors and soil carbon sequestration sensors. The e-coli sensors detect fecal contamination in water providing timely warnings to avert the spread of water-borne diseases that kill nearly one million people across Africa every year. The carbon sequestration sensor generates information on soil processes such as decomposition rates and soil carbon dioxide production.

Accord Capital led the round with h participation of FHI 360, Cleo Capital, Reverent Rock, Save Earth, and VertueLab. Virridy has also rebranded from SweetSense to reflect its commitment to enabling high-quality environmental commodities.

According to a report, over two billion people currently live with chronic high water stress, one-third of agricultural soils globally are degraded, and two billion people face food insecurity. In light of this, efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change have continued to gain momentum across the world and Virridy set out to address these challenges and drive action toward global environmental resilience. Partnering with organizations like the National Science Foundation (NSF), USAID, the World Bank, NASA, the Millennium Water Alliance, and Swarm Technologies, the environment tech startup is monitoring the water supply of over four million people to help maintain consistent supplies.

In Kenya and Ethiopia, Virridy’s low-cost, satellite-linked sensors monitor water boreholes, enabling government agencies responsible for maintenance to effectively deploy resources to minimize borehole downtime to ensure communities have consistent access to water well for their livestock and crops.

Virridy is also partnering with The Freshwater Trust and Wexus Technologies to help farmers in the drought-prone Western United States monitor and better manage groundwater pumping and consumption while earning revenue through energy savings and automated demand response. This helps farmers keep operational costs down, increase revenue and comply with the growing government regulations on the sustainable use of groundwater.

The Chief Executive Officer and founder of Virridy, Dr. Evan Thomas said, “We are excited that Virridy is enabling environmental markets, including carbon credits, energy incentives, and water permitting through our sensors and analytics. Our team was the first to bring to market carbon financing for water treatment 15 years ago, and are now supporting these markets at scale for water access and conservation, soil carbon, and energy conservation.”

Commenting on the round, Chris Lackner, Managing Director at Accord Capital expressed his excitement about the investment, “Accord is excited to partner with Virridy to support its continued growth and innovation. We believe the management team’s significant collective backgrounds will enable Virridy to become the leading sensor and data provider in environmental resource monitoring.”