Divirod, the startup that takes care of water with sensors and data in real time
Spanish entrepreneur Javier Martí went from Chile to Colorado with a mission: to curb climate change with the power of the internet of things.
Javier Martí (Jerez de la Frontera, 1969) has Andalusia in his heart. He lives in Colorado but remembers his childhood in Granada and his time at the University of Malaga, where he studied Telecommunications Engineering. From there he moved to the Netherlands and, after five years in Chile, They signed him in the United States to go where few want, to Alaska, as part of the Ecological Observatory team.
This is how his life took him from telecommunications to sustainability and, above all, to the role of water. And that's also how he was born in 2019 Divirod, a startup dedicated to taking steps to get to know everything about water.
The name is quite a statement of intent. This is how Zahori is said in English, a character halfway between science, intuition and legend. In your case, the startup was created halfway between Canada, the United States and Japan, the countries where it began its journey by uniting sensors in these leaders.
Martí issues a warning that fits with what happened this past winter: “An attempt is made to create resilience to water risks. In Texas, for example, by excess or by default, everything is radical. It is cold, it has ice and water has accumulated. These types of events of great changes and oscillations will be more and more frequent. Let's see frost where there was never before. Previous models do not work. This is why data collection is so important”.
And that's precisely where Divirod shines: deploying sensors, taking data and analyzing its meaning.
Martí has a special partner in this adventure: Adam Wilson, founder of Sphero, a startup specializing in hardware and robotics. It was the same one that created a hit toy that recreates a Star Wars droid, but controlled with the mobile. No less than six million units were sold. “The ones we use in Divirod have more sensors and add a data account”, matiza Martí.
Colorado and California, key states
At Divirod they focus on selling the data instead of the hardware. They know that services retain more loyalty than physical devices. Customers have real estate companies who want to know the status of what surrounds their buildings. “ For example, snow information on the roof. This avoids a possible collapse ”, says the founder while, mentally, it is easy to remember the image of Filomena this last winter.
Colorado, where he lives, and California, with a great agrarian extension and mythical cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, they have the highest concentration of clients. California, every summer, suffers from two connected phenomena: drought and fires. It seems logical that they resort to Divirod. “ We can know what is the water supply of a reservoir or a lake. Also if any kind of shortage is foreseen”, he explains.
During the video call conversation between Florida and Colorado, Martí repeats a word frequently: resilience. This refers to how nature adapts and clings to its data, but when you get out of it you have to be vigilant: “ If the frequency is well known, you can work in advance. For example, for move cars from a parking lot or activate a support network for the population because a flood is in sight”.
Hospitality and construction, outstanding clients
The expert provides a reflection that is certainly no less painful: “Companies have a great interest in measuring and knowing the water situation. They move before institutions ”. Among the sectors that contract their services the most, in addition to real estate, hospitality and construction stand out. “They need to know if a flood will affect the hotel, or if they will not be able to build apartments for a few days”, stands out as an example.
The startup has seven employees. So far they have obtained two million euros of financing. The first investors, as is usually the norm in the United States, were friends and family, also some business angels. Later, more recognized venture capital funds were joined: Pasadena, Thinline Capital and Go Hub Ventures. The latter of Spanish origin and with water as the main reason.
The founder of the startup highlights the role of Go Hub: “ Not only does the capital contributed matter, but, above all, the connections they have in the world of water, beyond Spain, they also help us in the United States. They are a very strategic partner ”.
