According to a United Nations report, the planet is expected to experience a 40 percent shortfall in freshwater resources between 2018 and 2030. Unless countries drastically reduce their water usage, this could have disastrous consequences for agriculture, industry and personal uses.
Local agtech company Lumo announced Wednesday it raised pre-seed funding to help the agriculture sector better manage water resources.
Lumo is a wireless, cloud-managed water valve network that helps farmers optimize their water usage, improve crop quality and reduce overhead costs. The company’s water sustainability product is currently being tested by a number of vineyards and orchards in Sonoma County.
“Preserving fresh water requires fresh thinking,” Lumo CEO Devon Wright said in a statement. “Climate change and population growth are forcing governments and farmers to adopt new water management technology. Currently, the systems that farmers are using for managing and tracking irrigation are broken and wasteful. Lumo’s technology will not only help them in terms of productivity and profitability but … give them the much needed innovation they’ve been waiting for.”
The $2.1 million funding round was led by Fall Line Capital, a venture fund focused on sustainable agriculture technology, and will be used to accelerate product development and commercialization.
“Water is one of our most critical resources in agriculture. Yet, very few companies are tackling the problem in a practical and scalable way,” Baptiste Tellier, Fall Line Capital director, said in a statement. “The Lumo team’s unique blend of hardware and software expertise will enable them to engineer irrigation controls that optimize for reliability and deployment. We look forward to working with them to bring their product to market and provide solutions for farmers facing climate change challenges and operating cost increases.”
