WaterSmart Software, a US-based water efficiency service for utilities, has raised $900,000 in its seed round from a consortium including Physic Ventures, a venture capital firm cornerstoned by consumer goods groups Unilever and PepsiCo.
Menlo Incubator led the seed round, which also included VC firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Sand Hill Angels in the consortium.
Andrew Williamson, a director at Physic Ventures, said: "WaterSmart brings meter data to life and empowers homeowners with the tools and the personalized data they need to reduce their water use without sacrificing their quality of life. They make it easy and fun to be water efficient."
He added by email: "Physic Ventures’ strategy is to invest from seed stage to later stage venture investments. We invest at the seed stage when we have proprietary insights into a technology or market and we see an opportunity to leverage our ecosystem of strategic partners to rapidly accelerate the growth of the company.
"We view our seed investments as a way to generate proprietary investment opportunities for our fund. WaterSmart is one example of this strategy. Own Products is another great example of a seed stage company that was incubated by an EIR working at Physic.
"We have other seed investments which are in stealth mode and Physic is in active discussions with a number of seed stage entrepreneurs in the consumer-health and sustainable living sectors."