Pani, a smart-home IoT company building consumer products that help people understand their water usage, incentive water conservation and reduce water bills, has raised $1M in seed round financing. The lead investor is Blake Chandlee, the former VP of Global Partnerships who joined Facebook in 2007 to lead its international expansion. Pani’s new capital will fund hiring, product development, and strategic initiatives with key go-to-market partners.
While today’s homes are becoming more digitally connected, water appliances and the plumbing that connect them remain primitive and off the digital grid. Meanwhile, water conservation mandates are becoming a critical initiative for water utilities across the US and the world. However, utility conservation programs are still largely comprised of expensive on-site water audits, ineffective email campaigns or physical mailers with no ability to close the accountability loop.
Pani’s products transform traditional plumbing into digital smart water networks, enabling the collection of real-time critical water usage data that will give consumers a granular understanding of their water usage, while providing utilities insights on how to incentivize their customers to better utilize existing water infrastructure. By breaking down water usage into the biggest usage culprits like showers, toilets, or faucets, etc., water-wise consumers can finally begin to get customized and actionable feedback that can drive actual behavioral change. The company will have a limited and exclusive supply of early units available for pilot partnerships with select partners later this year. The products will ship to consumers and partners in early 2019.
“At the residential level, water sustainability and resiliency can be achieved through a combination of increased appliance efficiency and ‘de-centralized’ water processing,” said Pani founder Allen Tsai. “This funding will allow us to develop low-cost, yet beautiful and easy-to-install consumer products that will give people and the utilities that serve them unprecedented insights into how people use water in their homes. Our vision is that more water efficient/self-reliant homes are the most scalable way to secure the future of our water supply.”
Beneath Pani’s technological innovations lie a set of mission-driven core values that inform the culture of the company. Pani was formed shortly after founder Allen Tsai’s volunteer trip building water wells in rural Nepal. His experiences there helped catalyze the long term vision of the company, and Pani’s products and services will enable novel ways to raise money that will go towards providing access to potable water for people around the world.
“Their innovative water tech stack aside, what is equally impressive is Pani’s massive product vision and their mission-driven purpose,“ said investor/advisor Blake Chandlee. “The Pani team is first tackling water efficiency at the consumer appliance level, but the work they do will have long term implications that will enable the world to re-imagine water infrastructure.”
About Pani Systems
Based in Austin, Pani Systems is building smart-home appliances that help utilities and consumers measure, monitor, and repurpose water. Fusing innovative hardware, software, big data and machine learning, Pani Systems will help people become more mindful consumers of water and increase water resiliency through behavioral and technological innovation. Keep in touch at www.getpani.com, or join our team at jobs@getpani.com.
