Irrigreen
Revolutionary smart sprinkler system that saves water
Overview
Raised: $598,623
Rolling Commitments ($USD)
07/31/2021
$4,867
1,001
2011
Consumer Products, Goods & Services
Hardwaretech
B2B/B2C
Medium
High
Summary Profit and Loss Statement
Most Recent Year | Prior Year | |
---|---|---|
Revenue |
$171,368 |
$77,790 |
COGS |
$120,887 |
$51,997 |
Tax |
$0 |
$0 |
| ||
| ||
Net Income |
$-860,950 |
$-506,205 |
Summary Balance Sheet
Most Recent Year | Prior Year | |
---|---|---|
Cash |
$422,646 |
$407,862 |
Accounts Receivable |
$138,327 |
$22,406 |
Total Assets |
$991,551 |
$622,529 |
Short-Term Debt |
$105,468 |
$68,496 |
Long-Term Debt |
$738,500 |
$38,500 |
Total Liabilities |
$843,968 |
$106,996 |
Upgrade to gain access
-
$25 /month
billed annually - Free portfolio tracking, data-driven ratings, AI analysis and reports
- Plan Includes:
- Everything in Free, plus
- Company specific
KingsCrowd ratings and analyst reports
- Deal explorer and side-by-side comparison
- Startup exit and failure tracking
- Startup market filters and historical industry data
- Advanced company search ( with ratings)
- Get Edge Annual
Edge
Synopsis
Lawn sprinklers and other water irrigation systems can be both expensive for consumers and harmful to the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that US households waste up to 900 billion gallons of water every year. According to the EPA, an individual family can use up to 320 gallons of water a day, of which 30% is devoted to outdoor uses like watering a lawn. On top of the incredible amounts of water waste, the price of water has drastically increased in the last 10 years due to aging infrastructure and environmental factors. Nowadays, Americans pay over 80% more on their water bills than they did a decade ago.
Irrigreen is a company that makes patented smart sprinklers. These products map out an outdoor area and use software-controlled multi-stream nozzles to uniformly deliver water to an outdoor space. Normal sprinklers distributed around a lawn would double up efforts and create waste by overwatering certain areas. In contrast, Irrigreen’s product waters the exact shape and contour of a customer’s lawn, cutting down on water waste by up to 50%. The company estimates it can save property owners about $600-to-$1200 annually in areas with high water expenses.
Irrigreen’s current Republic raise has been rated a Neutral Deal by the KingsCrowd investment team.
Price
Irrigreen is raising at a $16 million valuation and is offering a SAFE with a 20% discount. This valuation is slightly overpriced compared to other startups currently seeking funding. However, the company has seen growing revenue in its most fiscal year, which is a boon to Irrigreen. Additionally, the 20% discount makes this round more attractive to investors. Therefore, Irrigreen’s price score is above average.
Market
The global sprinkler irrigation market size was estimated at just under $2.6 billion in 2019 and is set to grow to just under $3 billion in coming years. As the world turns more and more towards sustainable choices that protect the environment, products geared towards water conservation may soon become the norm. However, it’s important to note that the irrigation market includes both farming and landscaping uses. Irrigreen is currently only targeting landscaping, thereby limiting its overall market potential. Additionally, the market’s extremely slow growth will also naturally restrict the overall opportunity. Due to these factors, Irrigreen’s market score is its lowest across all five metrics.
Team
Irrigreen’s executive team is led by founder and CEO Shane Dyer. Dyer has a bachelor’s in Computer Systems Engineering from Stanford University and is a serial entrepreneur. Most recently he founded Arrayent, an IoT platform, which was bought by Prodea Systems in 2017. Dyer also co-founded Propellerhead Studios — a product development firm for the toy industry — and solely founded ActivePhoto — an IoT platform for photos and digital cameras.
Gary Klinefelter acts as the company’s CTO. He previously worked as a vice president of technology at Fargo Electronics and oversaw printing products valued at more than $90 million. The company was acquired by HID Global in a $325 million purchase. The executive team is rounded out by Vice President of Revenue Kim Levin. Levin has a career of more than 20 years in sales and marketing, experience that will prove useful in growing Irrigreen to new heights.
The executive team’s experience with exits is especially encouraging for potential investors. Dyer has founded and run multiple other startups, which increases his likelihood of leading Irrigreen to success. Thus, Irrigreen scores strongly in the team metric.
Differentiators
The space of “smart sprinklers” is growing crowded – with companies like Rachio, Orbit, and Wyze already offering similar products. However, Irrigreen’s product is slightly different from many of the current options on the market. Orbit and Rachio provide sprinkler controllers that allow the customer to control the water, where it is sprayed, and how much of it is sprayed on their lawn. These options simply allow for control over wasteful sprinklers. Irrigreen offers a system that reduces the number of digital heads to one-third the average system. It “prints” water that perfectly covers a lawn and utilizes internet weather data. This functionality cuts down on water waste by up to 50%, potentially saving customers thousands of dollars in water bills throughout the use of Irrigreen’s product. Irrigreen also has six patents and another one pending, which provides crucial defensibility for its smart sprinklers. Therefore, the differentiators score for Irrigreen is high.
Performance
Irrigreen has seen revenues grow over the last two years, from just over $77k in 2018 to more than $177k in 2019. The company’s long-term debt also rose considerably in 2021 with its most recent Form C filing indicating $738k in long-term debt. Prior to this raise, Irrigreen has seen venture capital firms pour in nearly $5 million in funding, which has allowed the company to create and patent its existing products.
Irrigreen has installed more than 300 sprinklers thus far and has targeted both residential and commercial locations. With a wide range of potential customers, Irrigreen is solidly positioned to continue its early traction. These factors result in a very high performance score.
Bearish Outlook
Innovation is key to success, and Irrigreen’s product looks eerily similar to existing products already on the market. If it is unable to communicate the benefits of its smart sprinklers to consumers, it may struggle to grow. Additionally, the company is operating in an extremely limited market that is barely growing. Although efficient and environmentally-friendly irrigation solutions are likely to grow more popular in coming years, there’s still a hard limit on how much landscaping irrigation is needed across the country. These market restrictions could prevent Irrigreen from realizing its slightly ambitious $16 million valuation.
Bullish Outlook
The executive team behind Irrigreen has led multiple successful exits, giving them much needed experience in the world of startups. Irrigreen’s technology is patented, and the company has a clear business model identified for growth. On top of supplying residential and commercial properties, it is working on rolling out digital sprinklers for large parks, golf courses, and sports fields. Doing so would only increase the reach of the company’s products. With solid early traction and the world turning toward sustainable solutions, Irrigreen could be well-positioned to occupy a healthy slice of the sprinkler market.
Executive Summary
With patented technology, a solid number of early installations, and an executive team that has experience in taking startups to exit, Irrigreen has quite a few aspects of its operation trending in the right direction. However, a crowded market with many competitors and a slightly high valuation are factors that work against the company. Much of Irrigreen’s future success depends on its ability to expand its customer base, but there’s a hard limit on how much landscaping irrigation is needed. All things considered, Irrigreen is a Neutral Deal at this time.
For questions regarding the KingsCrowd staff pick or ratings for this company, please reach out to support@kingscrowd.com.
Analysis written by Ethan Thomas.