We are happy to announce that Bowery Capital recently led a Seed round of funding in Klir, a compliance resource planning platform targeting the needs of the water management industry. To hear directly from Klir’s cofounders, you can take a look at an interview they did earlier this month with The Irish Times. We have laid out some more information about the round and our investment rationale below.
Who?
David Lynch and Elaine Kelly drew upon their experience running a consultancy supporting the water utility sector to launch Klir, a software solution that enables utilities to meet the varied compliance requirements they face. David and Elaine have both been involved with the water management sector for the past decade. They initially met as colleagues at Accenture working together on a range of water-related projects, before setting out in 2014 to cofound Elm Solutions, an IT-focused consultancy addressing environmental compliance challenges. The pain points they saw while consulting with highly regulated utilities inspired them to launch Klir in an effort to modernize water compliance. We first met Klir through our friends at SaaS Ventures and were immediately struck by the depth of David and Elaine’s sector knowledge, as well as how closely their product aligned with our thinking around vertical opportunities. David and Elaine have a big vision for how software can be applied in the utility space and they possess the kind of industry background that can be crucial when trying to build a vertical software solution.
What?
Klir is developing an innovative vertical SaaS compliance resource planning platform for the water management industry. Klir’s all-in-one software package is a huge leap forward in how utilities can track and meet the permitting and reporting requirements which accompany the responsibility of managing such a vital resource. Utilities risk incurring costly fines and reputational damage if they fail to live up to their varied compliance burdens, and today’s utility-level compliance efforts are often managed through outdated legacy tech and ad hoc solutions which lack organization-wide visibility. In thinking about the replacement cycle, we see Klir’s unique, out-of-the-box solution for managing compliance requirements across a water utility’s many departments as the natural successor to the first generation of utility management software. Klir is the kind of verticalized solution we believe will proliferate across a range of industries that are not widely viewed today as being software-enabled.
Why?
Klir is positioned to become the industry-standard compliance platform for the water management sector. Utility software incumbents often require expensive and ongoing integration and support from third-party consultants - Klir is differentiating itself by creating a flexible platform that can be installed and managed by its own end users. Klir solves a real problem for utilities while offering the type of cost/benefit tradeoff that leads to rapid adoption. The product has resonated strongly with its initial water management buyers, and industry interest in Klir’s capabilities was one of the motivating factors in our investment decision. In our work looking at the water management sector, it became obvious that Klir’s product fills a key gap in the market. Over the long-term, Klir also has the potential to expand its offering beyond compliance and begin addressing many of the other challenges water utilities face in their course of business. Klir is actively onboarding leading water utility providers onto their platform and if you are interested in using Klir at your utility, do not hesitate to reach out to us.
Where?
Klir is based in Toronto, Ontario.
