Wattnow, a Tunis-based IoT Smart Energy Management Solution that enables businesses to take control of their energy by lowering their energy-related costs and carbon footprint, has raised $1.3 million in a pre-series A round led by Katapult, a Norwegian climate impact fund, Tunisian venture capital firm 216 Capital, and an African venture capital firm, Launch Africa. Additional funding was provided by existing investors Oman Technology Fund and Crossboundary, as well as an angel investor from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“These funds will play a major role in helping us take Wattnow to the next level. As a 100% Tunisian start up, the whole team is very proud to have been able to make it to this stage, and the best is yet to come, I’m sure”. — Issam Smaali, CEO of Wattnow
Previously, the startup was backed by regional investors such as Flat6Labs, Kepple Africa Ventures, Oman Technology Fund, and a group of Bridging Angels angel investors.
Why The Investors Invested
Wattnow’s impressive records attracted the investors. Despite the pandemic, Wattnow maintained its exponential development, amassing a market leader’s client portfolio spanning many sectors, including retail, telecommunications, and banking, as well as industries such as aeronautics, cement manufacturing, and even pharmaceuticals.
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“In a world where energy costs are increasing week after week Wattnow’s platform and technology have the potential to help businesses reduce significantly their energy bill but also their impact on the environment. We are very excited to support Issam and the Wattnow team in their exciting journey” — Dhekra Khelifi partner at 216 Capital.
A Look At What Wattnow Does
Wattnow, founded in 2018 by Issam Smaali, enables businesses to visualize their energy usage in real time, control and automate certain loads (such as lights or HVAC), and receive alerts and messages when something goes wrong. The data collected by their intelligent sensors is evaluated using machine learning algorithms. These insights are accessible via a cloud-based dashboard, which empowers businesses by providing thorough statistics and analytics on their energy consumption. The company’s primary objective is to develop a robust and affordable energy efficiency solution for industrials, commercial buildings, and businesses.
Wattnow was able to reduce maintenance work by 60% and avoid 1900 tCo2 eq, which is similar to the annual energy consumption of more than 200 US households, in one of its case studies.
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With Safran, another of Wattnow’s clients, what began as a small pilot in Tunisia quickly expanded to the entire factory, followed by another factory deployment, and ultimately resulted in Wattnow playing a significant role in Safran Tunisia winning the Safran Group Innovation Prize in the low carbon category. Indeed, the IoT solution is critical for businesses pursuing ISO 50001 certification, which is intended for organizations committed to addressing their impact and aiming to increase the efficiency of their energy management.
Wattnow was included in the SET100 list of the world’s top 100 energy firms in 2021, making it one of the first north African startups to make the cut.
The new Tunisian start-up faces stiff competition from established actors, system integrators, and cloud-based companies, but stands out due to its great flexibility to emerging markets and the unique data sets that feed its machine learning engine and algorithms. Wattnow is thus able to highlight the information and trends that are relevant to these clients’ pain concerns in these areas.
After seeing rapid expansion in their home market of Tunisia, Wattnow is expanding its client base into Africa and the Middle East, while keeping an eye on areas with the potential for the greatest environmental effect. As a participant in Plug and Play Morocco and Plug and Play Middle East’s T5 SDAIA Smart Cities Accelerator, the Tunisian startup has begun evaluating the Moroccan and Saudi markets and establishing implementation agreements.
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Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer