AquaSwitch, a new tech start-up, has secured £156,000 of seed funding at a £1m pre-money valuation as part of its plan to deliver much-needed transparency and choice to the non-household water market.
The funding has been raised to build the first fully automated price comparison website that offers a fair, independent view of all business water tariffs available in the market.
AquaSwitch’s Co-founders, Ben Brading and Tom Melhuish, have extensive experience in disruptive tech businesses having worked at Cazoo, uSwitch and Exodus, where they played a significant role in transforming their respective industries to provide greater consumer choice and value.
The English non-household water market deregulated in 2017 with the aims of bringing greater choice, lower bills and improved service standards to its 1.2 million customers. Four years later, 85% of the market has never switched from their default water retailer.
Sarah McMath, MOSL’s Chief Executive, reflected in a recent industry forum that if you evaluate the water market in terms of the “ability for the customer to choose their retailer and ability for them to save some cash, then the market isn’t working”.
On AquaSwitch’s plans to revolutionise the water market, Ben commented: “The water market is difficult to navigate for business owners; there’s no easy way to find out if you’re paying too much for water or which retailers offer the best alternatives. Since it’s not easy, most do not bother.”
“We believe that comparing water tariffs offered by different retailers should be achievable in just a few clicks. We are delighted to have secured investment to make this a reality.”
Angel Investor, Mehul Hirani, participating in the funding round added: “The business water market is worth £3bn per annum and is yet to enjoy the benefits of digital transformation that AquaSwitch will deliver.”
