Imagine H2O’s 8th annual water innovation accelerator identifies promising data solutions

San Francisco — Imagine H2O, the water innovation accelerator, selected 12 startups to advance to its 8th annual Accelerator Program. Over 180 startups from 20 countries registered for the Challenge. The startups will join the organization’s growing portfolio of 70 alumni companies, which represent over $1 in every $10 of early-stage investment in the water sector.

A lack of actionable data poses significant challenges to businesses, landowners and governments managing water resources globally. Yet, entrepreneurs responding to this problem are applying advancements in sensors, artificial intelligence, enterprise software and other IT applications to the water sector.

“Leveraging data innovation empowers communities and businesses to solve water challenges in a cost-effective manner,” said Imagine H2O’s VP of Programming Tom Ferguson. “Our 2017 accelerator cohort is a diverse, scalable set of businesses providing crucial data and information to communities, farms and companies.”

The 12 finalists will be honored at Imagine H2O’s WaterGala ’17 on March 15 in San Francisco, where the organization will announce the Challenge’s overall winner.

“This is an impressive group of companies doing important work in their chosen area,” said Paul Gagliardo, Innovation Director at American Water and member of the judging panel. “Scaling their business through Imagine H2O’s program will be a unique opportunity to bring their innovations to market.”

Imagine H2O provides a proven path-to-market for early-stage water companies, with participants benefitting from executive mentorship, market visibility, investor introductions, and connections to Imagine H2O’s Beta Partners, a global network of companies and utilities committed to deploying water technology.

The 12 finalists advancing to Imagine H2O’s 2017 accelerator are Acoustic Sensing Technology (UK), AquaSeca, Arable Labs, EMAGIN, Flo Techologies, FREDSense, Hydromodel Host (Spain), Lotic Labs, PlutoAI, Sutro, Triple Bottom Line Enterprises (Ethiopia) and Utilis (Israel).

Visit the Imagine H2O Accelerator website (https://www.imagineh2o.org/accelerator) to learn more about the participating companies and their promising innovations.

Imagine H2O’s judging panel includes industry experts and leaders from, among others, XPV Water Partners, DC Water, True North Venture Partners, and IBM. The judges selected the finalists based on market viability, value proposition, and go-to-market strategy. The program’s major financial supporters include Wells Fargo (Headline Sponsor), Suez North America Foundation and Tetra Tech.