Spring brings a great deal of growth and change to our backyards, but especially for Jesse Lafian, 28, a University of Georgia graduate who recently closed a seed round for an undisclosed amount with a local investment group for his wireless irrigation startup, Reservoir.
Based in Athens, Reservoir develops wireless irrigation for landscapers and horticulturists. With the Reservoir Spoke and its accommodating app, users can manage a simple irrigation system without conventional hardware by site and zone from anywhere in the world.
Lafian founded Reservoir in 2016 during his junior year at UGA and recently closed a seed round with the Macon-based angel fund Central Piedmont Investment Group. Bob Easter, the group's managing director, said in a news release the investment aligns with its vision to fund startups across the state and region to grow the economy.
“Reservoir is poised to be the first to market with a solution that irrigators have wanted for decades,” Easter said.
Funding from Central Piedmont will allow the startup to move forward with field tests with clients based out of metro-Atlanta, including Irrigation Consultant Services, MNI Direct and Moon’s Tree Farm.
These clients will give feedback on the Reservoir Spoke, a product that simplifies irrigation systems by replacing expensive wires, controllers, output modules, surge arresters and decoders typically used in traditional irrigation systems, and the Spoke app.
"I’m super excited," he said. "It’s a dream come true, basically there’s 10 client businesses in metro-Atlanta and even in Athens that are going to be testing the product. They’re really excited about it. It’s going to save them a lot of time and money."
In addition to simplifying the irrigation process, Lafian said Reservoir's technology will make labor in plant nurseries and tree farms easier.
“Many growers can’t use wired irrigation systems due to lightning. Their only option is to control valves manually, which is often very labor intensive,” Lafian said. “Since the Spoke is wireless, it allows them to automate irrigation with minimal risk of lightning damage.”
Shortly before securing this seed funding, Reservoir raised $66,000 from pitch competitions, including UGA Next Top Entrepreneur and FABricate, and grant programs including UGA Innovation Gateway/NSF I-Corps and Georgia Research Alliance.
Lafian, who graduated from UGA last May, said he began studying horticulture after trying several occupations across industries.
"Horticulture, I’m just attracted to it because plants are beautiful in my opinion, that’s really what it boils down to," he said. "There was no long-term game plan when I decided to start studying horticulture. I just think plants are really fascinating and beautiful…sometimes you just got to go with your gut. A lot of it also had to do with the people in the horticulture department at UGA. I really liked those people a lot so we got a long well, had similar interests and outlook on life."
