Toulouse, France-based vorteX-io, a startup specialising in large-scale hydrological monitoring solutions, announced recently that it has secured €2.9M in a fresh funding round.
This funding was led by Banque des Territoires and MAIF Impact alongside AFI Ventures – Ventech’s impact fund – and SpaceFounders France, supplemented by bank financing.
Since March 2023, vorteX-io has been receiving financial support from the European Innovation Council for the creation of Europe’s first river forecasting service.
Winner of the 2023 EIC Accelerator program, the French company has already received a €2.9M grant from the European Innovation Council for its WHYLD (Worldwide HYdrological Large-scale Database) project, aimed at creating the first European real-time hydrological forecasting service.
With the latest funding, the company will use the funds to accelerate the deployment of its network, with a further 2,000 micro-stations by 2026 to model the main European river basins.
The company also plans to double its workforce to 80 employees by 2026, with 10 new hires starting in 2024.
vorteX-io: Provider of real-time in-situ hydrological data
Europe is seeing more extreme weather, leading to increased natural disasters and risk of flooding for 11 per cent of the population. vorteX-io has developed technology to measure river parameters in real-time, helping with risk notification, water management, and infrastructure security.
As a result, vorteX-io has developed technology to measure river parameters in real-time, helping with risk notification, water management, and infrastructure security.
“We aim to provide decision-makers with strategic tools and services that will enable them to improve their water management and better forecast extreme weather phenomena such as droughts and floods, major challenges for the safety and resilience of territories”, explains Jean-Christophe Poisson, co-founder, and CEO of vorteX-io.
Based on satellite altimetry techniques, its solution measures the key hydrological parameters of rivers and streams (water height, surface velocity, and imagery) in real-time, with unrivalled precision.
The data is analysed on its Maelstrom platform, which provides strategic services to public and private decision-makers: real-time notification in the event of risk, optimisation of water management for local authorities, securing infrastructures, and anticipation of agricultural and industrial needs.
The company’s offering is distinguished by the unique combination of two major innovations: a connected, autonomous hydrological micro-station based on space technology, and a web-based platform offering a wide range of high-value-added services.
One of these services is the provision of real-time alert notifications, boosting the responsiveness of those involved.
Its services are aimed at all sectors exposed to water-related risks, including civil protection, tourism, insurance, transport, industry, and energy.
By the end of 2024, 1,000 micro-stations will have been deployed in France and Croatia, two European countries at high risk of flooding.
The investors
Banque des Territoires is one of Caisse des Dépôts’ business lines. It brings together the Group’s in-house expertise for the benefit of local and regional authorities.
As a single point of contact for its customers, Banque des Territoires works alongside all local players: local authorities, local public enterprises, social housing organisations, the legal professions, businesses, and financial players.
It supports them in carrying out their public-interest projects by offering a continuum of solutions: advice, loans, equity investments, consignments, and banking services.
By reaching out to all territories, from rural areas to metropolitan areas, Banque des Territoires aims to maximise its impact, particularly in terms of ecological transformation and social and territorial cohesion.
François Wohrer, Investment Director of Banque des Territoires, emphasises, “Against a backdrop of great environmental stress, and with 18 million French people living in flood-prone areas, protecting people and property is a major challenge for our country. It is in this spirit that we are supporting the growth of vorteX-io, a Toulouse-based startup, whose river monitoring technology is an innovative and effective tool for local authorities, and which, by developing employment, contributes to social cohesion.”
This is the aim of MAIF Impact is to invest in young innovative companies whose business model creates positive impacts for the benefit of society and the environment.
Through its investments, MAIF Impact targets five priority themes: education and fundamental rights, adapting cities to transitions, promoting circularity, responding to the climate emergency, and preserving and regenerating biodiversity.
With a capital of €40M, MAIF Impact has supported the development of some 30 organisations since its creation.
Hélène Hannoir, President of MAIF Impact, adds, “Responding to the climate emergency and implementing actions enabling populations to adapt and mitigate the impacts of climate change is at the heart of the strategy of MAIF Impact, the MAIF Group’s impact fund. The vorteX-io project convinced us thanks to its degree of technological innovation and its positioning with local players, particularly local authorities. For these reasons, MAIF Impact is delighted to add vorteX-io to its portfolio of young innovative companies whose business model creates positive impacts for the benefit of society and the environment.”
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