Zurich, Switzerland – Global climate tech leader Emerald has invested in a $4 million Series A financing round for Waterly, a US-based software company digitizing the operations of water and wastewater utilities across North America. Emerald is participating in the round, which was led by Burnt Island Ventures.
Founded in 2020 by industry veteran Chris Sosnowski, Waterly replaces outdated clipboard-and-spreadsheet workflows with a mobile-first, cloud-native software platform designed specifically for the needs of utility operators. In just five years, the company has scaled to support over 5,000 users and more than 1,000 water and wastewater systems, including industry leader American Water.
“Waterly is solving one of the water sector’s most entrenched problems with elegance and empathy: how to make digital transformation accessible to thousands of utilities still operating with pen and paper,” said Clayton MacDougald, Investment Director at Emerald. “Chris and his team have built an intuitive, secure, and scalable platform that’s beloved by operators—and we’re excited to support their mission of bringing smart water tools to every corner of the market.”
Simplifying Operations, Empowering Operators
Waterly’s flagship product, Rounds, digitizes data collection during facility rounds, transforming it into a structured, auditable dataset used for compliance reporting, operational insights, and organizational memory. It is compatible with SCADA and manual inputs, and is actively used by operators on smartphones and tablets on a daily basis, becoming in essence an extension of the operational team.
Expanding Suite of Solutions
Waterly’s expansion includes an integrated asset management module (Assets) acquired through the 2024 acquisition of OpWorks, and an Enterprise offering that aggregates operational data across utility portfolios.
Across its product lines, Waterly’s design principle is clear: build for operators, not IT teams. Its intuitive interface and rapid onboarding—often requiring just hours, not months—have become key differentiators in a fragmented market.
Targeting Underserved Markets with Strong Economics
Waterly is actively digitizing a vast and underserved segment: more than 80% of water and wastewater systems in North America still use manual methods for data tracking. The company focuses on a variety of customer segments from small to large utilities, contract operators and investor-owned utilities along with several industrial customers. Its pricing, based on treated flow rather than seat licenses, makes it especially attractive to budget-conscious customers.
Driving Toward a Smarter, Safer Water Future
This financing will support Waterly’s continued investment in product development, customer success, and go-to-market expansion.
From Chris Sosnowski, CEO:
“Waterly started with a simple belief: water operators deserve better tools. It’s been amazing to see how much we’ve been able to change with just a small team and a lot of heart. Now, with Burnt Island Ventures and Emerald in our corner, we’re ready to go even bigger—helping thousands more water and wastewater heroes do their jobs with less stress and more confidence to deliver safer, smarter service to their communities.”
With water utilities under increasing pressure to modernize, Waterly is positioned as the digital operating system for a sector long overdue for transformation.
More on water and wastewater at Emerald:
Veralto Commits €20M to Emerald’s New Fund to Accelerate Water Innovation Solutions