Why We Invested in Waterly
Many water systems remain stuck in the 20th century, operating treatment plants on paper-based systems, with operators tracking tasks and data with clipboards and paper. It’s an outdated system that creates unacceptable risks for water quality, safety, and compliance. Paper-based records result in data losses, mistakes, invisible chain of custody, cumbersome compliance reporting and more. It’s a problem engineered for software. So why hasn’t anyone solved it? Because operators need a system built for them.
Enter Waterly, a digital operational platform built by water operators for water and wastewater operators. What makes Waterly’s apps different is they’ve digitized the operational workflows and data collection that used to be recorded on clipboards to tablets and computers instead, with all of the requisite cybersecurity criteria in place. What once took hours can be done within seconds, and with greater accuracy rates and higher security levels. Waterly apps are designed 100% with the ease needed for operator adoption. Chris, Jason and team thanks for letting us jump into it with you. Here’s why we did it.
From the Clipboard to the Rounds
Waterly began with a deceptively simple premise: turn the clipboard into a tablet. This “digital clipboard” became what’s now known as Waterly Rounds, the company’s first product and still its flagship. Operators use it to input process data, chlorine levels, dissolved oxygen readings, chemical dosing, and sample observations, directly into a tablet or smartphone. This data then feeds into real-time dashboards, automated compliance reports, and an auditable digital chain of custody. Operators no longer chase down smudged, wrinkled sheets of paper or try to decipher illegible handwriting under pressure. Supervisors get real-time alerts if values fall outside safe parameters. Regulatory reports, which once took days to compile, now auto-generate, and compliance incidents have plummeted.
A User-Driven Security First Platform
Part of the reason utilities have stuck to pen and paper is because they want to make sure they remain protected against cybersecurity breaches and threats. You do not want someone to hack your utility's computer system and cause a dangerous contamination event that could affect thousands to millions of residents. It’s simply not worth the risk. The Waterly team innately understands this dilemma and built their software in lock-step with a cybersecurity toolkit. During recent security breaches that compromised some of Waterly’s existing customers, Waterly was one of the only IT vendors that remained untouched. Their deployment protocols, secure-by-default architecture, and lightweight but rigorous approach to operator identity management allowed them to deliver business continuity when others couldn’t. That’s a type of trust you cannot beat. And it’s an understanding that allows them to develop software to meet their customers’ needs without the associated risks.
A Product By Operators for Operators
Chris Sosnowski (CEO) spent 30 years in wastewater operations and SCADA integration, speaking “fluent utility operator” with firsthand risks of relying on paper-based recordkeeping: lost data, slow compliance reporting, mistakes in chemical dosing and nutrient tracking. And more importantly, he knows what better looks like. Jason Vasquez (CTO) is an ex-enterprise software VP who knows how to translate his domain expertise into secure, scalable technology. And they put those insights to work with near-zero churn, 4-hour onboarding time, and thousands of daily active users. The Waterly team knows their customers and they solve real operational pains from day one.
Wild Adoption Leads to Serious Traction
Waterly isn’t just vertical SaaS for a niche industry, it’s an operating system for water utilities, designed with empathy, pragmatism, and precision. Every additional product module, from maintenance to cybersecurity, adds a layer of stickiness. Every new plant brought online increases the value of interoperability. Every report generated saves real human hours, and reduces real public risk. What’s more, they’re doing this without heavy customization or hand-holding. Waterly works out of the box in four hours for a typical system– a 160x improvement, and for an industry where time equals safety, it’s a game-changing metric. That level of delivery led them to sign contracts with some of the largest investor-owned utilities in North America to deploy its products across hundreds of treatment plants. Waterly is quickly becoming the interoperable data layer between SCADA, GIS, meter management, and compliance systems. They’re now replicating that multi-site strategy with other investor-owned and contract operators with some serious results. They already live in over 1,000 plants, supporting 5,000 users daily. Their average contract value has grown every year, and their roadmap is pointed in all the right directions: cybersecurity, AI, integrations, and asset management. They’ve got a lot of room to run and it’s very exciting to see.
An Unignorable Future
Waterly is rooted in the belief that water safety is a data problem, and that safer water depends on standardizing the systems that manage it. They are making this standardization accessible to every utility, not just the big ones with sprawling IT departments and deep pockets. That means better water quality monitoring, more efficient operations, and clearer, more accountable rate-setting. In the context of the water sector’s silver tsunami, emerging contaminants, and increasing regulations, this software delivers great value for huge swaths of the population who have, up to now, been underserved by the digital revolution.
Chris, Jason and team are laying the groundwork to become the global standard for water data exchange. They’ve built a product that speaks to today’s realities and tomorrow’s demands. They’ve made it intuitive, affordable, and extensive. This is the kind of company we dream of backing: deeply grounded in real-world experience, driven by empathy, and ambitious enough to reshape its sector from the inside out. Waterly is not a company that will win because it shouts the loudest. It will win because it listens best. Chris, Jason, and the entire Waterly team, thank you for letting us join the journey.