Where are they now? Startup Battlefield participant Valor Water raises $1.6M
Summary
Faced with droughts and an increasing environmental effort in America to conserve water, utility companies have struggled to keep their financial houses in order in light of reduced usage. Company founder and CEO Christine Boyle tells TechCrunch that the Battlefield “was an amazing experience and launched Valor Water Analytics onto the world technology stage.” Boyle added that “the exposure to investors, the technology community and media outlets propelled our company to the next level, [and] this exposure put us on the map for top investors, including Y Combinator.” Since Disrupt, the company has grown significantly, deploying to seven utility clients in three states, including one gas utility. Following their participation in YC’s Winter 2015 class, Valor recently closed a $1.6 million seed round from Shore Ventures II, Apsara Capital, Syzygy West, Urban Innovation Fund and 500 Startups. Selected companies also receive free demo space in Startup Alley, tickets to VIP events, a Battlefield-only reception and, of course, TechCrunch swag. All verticals are welcome, including biotech, security, supercomputing, e-commerce, on-demand services, battery technology, mobile consumer, healthcare, bitcoin, hardware and the next big thing in dev tools.
