In 2012 Colorado and most of the Western states were in the middle of one of the worst droughts in recent memory. Colorado’s crops were declared a disaster by the federal government, wildfires burned out of control, and boats sat on the sandy bottoms of dried-up reservoirs. Not that any of that meant we were any more careful with our water usage.
“Rachio’s cofounder, Franz Garsombke, was walking his dog during one of the few rainy days we had that year, and he noticed that even though we were in a severe drought, people were watering their lawns in the rain,” Damon Miller, VP of Marketing at said. “He thought there had to be a better way.”
Rachio makes smart-sprinklers that hook directly into the weather forecast. Their system will automatically turn off your sprinklers if a storm is approaching, or give your thirsty yard a little extra juice if the sun is scorching. They’ll even adjust your sprinklers to take into account the type of soil and plants you have planted. Have clay soil? They’ll mist. Lots of grass? They’ll keep it green, not soggy. Perhaps most importantly though, they make it super-simple to program your sprinklers from you smartphone.
“Most existing sprinkler scheduling systems are really just egg timers attached to a plumbing system,” Miller said. “To schedule them is a huge pain, and surprisingly complicated. Rachio, by contrast, is wifi-enabled and easy to program.”
Water usage has been an issue in Colorado for a long time. With a growing population and a warmer future, the state is unlikely to get any wetter. Given that as much as 60 percent of a home’s water usage happens outside, smarter sprinklers can have a big effect. To date, the company estimates they’ve saved about a half a billion gallons of water — not too shabby considering their first product shipped in May of 2014.
Rachio is proud of their Colorado heritage and plans on expanding in the region. Their LoDo offices employ around 25 people, and they do all of their plastic fabrication and assembly in Colorado — a rarity for tech companies with a hardware component. The company secured a $7.1 million Series A in 2015, and plans to continue to expand in 2016.
Have a tip for us or want to share news about your company? Email us.
