Apana, which develops systems of sensor-equipped devices and complementary software to help facilities monitor their water use, announced Tuesday it has raised $11 million to fuel its continued growth.
Grocery stores, hotels, and restaurants are among those who use Apana’s products and services, which the Bellingham, WA-based company says can help these organizations save money by reducing their water consumption.
Apana’s customers include Issaquah, WA-based Costco (NASDAQ: [[ticker:COST]]), the MGM Grand Las Vegas hotel, and Fetzer Vineyards. Fetzer, which has operations in California’s wine country, uses Apana smart water meters to quickly find leaks and stop water waste before it gets out of control.
Tokyo-based Kurita Water Industries led the Series B round, Apana says. Other participants included three investors that had backed Apana previously: Cowles Company, E8 Fund, and Urban Innovation Fund.
Apana says it plans to use some of the new money to fund further product development, and to support sales and marketing efforts. The company says it has worked with customers to install water-monitoring systems in 600 cities across the world.
Apana’s platform connects a facility’s meters, sensors, and other devices with software that can be configured to alert facility managers when a problem arises, and provide them with step-by-step instructions for resolving the issue, the company says.
Kurita was also an investor in Apana’s $3.5 million Series A funding round, which the company announced in early 2017.
Michiya Kadota, Kurita’s president, says his organization focuses in part on water treatment and other environmental issues. With its investment in Apana, Kurita is “excited to leverage digitization and other new technologies to further increase sustainability,” Kadota says in a prepared statement.
