This New Smart Sprinkler 'Prints' Water — and Investors Are Noticing Positioned to disrupt a $6B industry, Irrigreen revolutionizes irrigation.
By Entrepreneur Store Edited by Jason Fell
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Maintaining landscaping in the face of droughts has gotten more difficult for homeowners, especially those in heavy-hit areas like California. About 60,000 gallons of water are wasted on outdoor use per home due to issues like inefficient, overlapping sprinkler systems, and in high water cost areas those homeowners spend between $600-$1,200 a year on wasted water. That spells bad news for drought-ridden areas and homeowner's wallets.
But as technology gets smarter, so do options for watering a lawn. Irrigreen is the smart, digital sprinkler system that cuts water usage and water bills up to 50 percent. As homeowners look for a way around waste and high water usage, Irrigreen offers them a system that could disrupt the $6 billion landscaping industry with a smart, thriftier way to keep landscaping lush and water bills low.
Investors took notice as this green company made a splash on the smart home tech market. Silicon Valley investors have put up $4.9 million already. With more than 340 installations since launch plus six issued patents, Irrigreen is looking to expand with backing from sharp-eyed tech investors.
How does it work?
Everything in the Irrigreen system is about reducing, including the parts it takes to set up the sprinkler system. What would typically require 30-40 mechanical sprinklers takes only five digital sprinkler heads in the Irrigreen system.
There's also less digging and piping when setting up the system, which protects your lawn and other plantings. Irrigreen requires only 250 feet of pipe versus 1,500 generally used for mechanical sprinkler systems. There are no valves and only two wires needed, simplifying the design of the system and lowering maintenance cost and headaches.
So how is this minimalist system dominating complex mechanical systems? Smart tech that teaches the sprinkler heads exactly where water is needed and when. Thanks to the patent-protected Irrigreen software, a wireless digital controller and phone app work together to map the exact zones of the property. The sprinkler heads use this mapping information to "print" water on the yard, not unlike an inkjet printer. Water is distributed where it is needed and nowhere else, saving water but also giving way to lush green plants without wet spots and dry spots that haunt traditional systems. Even better, the wireless outdoor controller also tracks live weather data, so it doesn't water the lawn when there is rain and keeps your landscape green during hot spells.
The minds behind innovation.
Irrigreen's blossoming success is in no small part due to the founders' extensive experience in engineering and business. CEO Shane Dyer and CTO Gary Klinefelter joined together to solve the problems behind wasted water in traditional sprinkler systems.
Their partnership was built on their shared 40 patents and years of business leadership experience—including a number of successful startup exits amounting to $325 million. Klinefelter alone has over 35 patents in inkjet printing, which serves as the base for the tech behind Irrigreen's water "printing."
Half the water. One-third of the labor needed to install this minimalist system. Slashed utility bills. Irrigreen is a company that believes less is more—except when it comes to returns. With its eye on the massive $6 billion landscaping industry ripe for a new way of doing things, Irrigreen is poised to bring greener, more innovative tech to businesses and homeowners looking for solutions that could save 19 trillion gallons from waste in US lawns.
Intrigued investors can get in on the action for a minimum investment of $150.
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