RO Capital Partners (“ROCP”), the RO Group’s venture capital arm, announces that it has led an investment round in InferSens alongside the Oxford Innovation Fund, and Bruce Melizan, the former MD of Interserve’s support services division. ROCP’s contribution comprises £309,000 of the total £870,000 raised, which will be used as growth capital and to bring the product to market.

InferSens is a ground-breaking AI and machine learning liquid sensor business which generates meaningful, live, and easily accessible data. It can non-invasively monitor the flow of any liquid in pipes and has made large strides in bringing down the cost of such technology. The technology involves a small sensor which is installed on a pipe.

The business is of particular interest to building owners who are legally required to scrutinise the flow of water in properties for Legionella, with a fixed monthly fee charged per sensor. Historically, checking for Legionella has involved the manual monitoring of water outlets, a laborious and environmentally wasteful process.    

InferSens’ product can be deployed on any sized pipe, including national infrastructure, providing a clear growth path for the business, and neatly intersects machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cleantech. The ability to cut down on the manual testing of flow in pipes massively reduces the scope for waste, meaning that the tech will significantly boost environmental and sustainability scores for its users. 

Edward Rowlandson, Group Managing Director, the RO, said:

“As owners of a diverse and large property portfolio, InferSens immediately stood out. We are excited to invest in the business, and its first class management team, to bring a product to market which we believe will transform facilities management, and for which we can see a number of wider applications, setting new levels of environmental efficiency and waste reduction.”

Colin Payne, CEO of InferSens, commented: 

“I am delighted that InferSens has been oversubscribed for its funding round; a real recognition of our cutting edge technology at the interface of IoT sensing and on-device machine learning. This critical milestone for the business will enable the commercial launch of our ML-powered flow and temperature sensing technology, initially targeting the major global challenge of keeping buildings safe from Legionella. We have been fortunate to attract a stellar mix of engaged investors including experts in the fields of mobile communications, property development, facilities management, corporate finance, and tech start-ups, who are eager to work with us to help us achieve our ambitious goals.”

Mark Purnell, Chairman of InferSens added: 

“I am extremely proud to be a founder member of the InferSens team and of the many significant achievements we have made since inception. Successfully navigating and securing this important funding round is the latest such achievement and we are thrilled to be embarking on the next stage of our amazing journey with the support of such a multi-talented line-up of impressive investors.”

Bruce Melizan concluded:

“I’m extremely impressed by the InferSens team and their exceptional invention. A huge amount of transformational opportunities are being unleashed by the power of AI and the IoT, and InferSens has grasped the full practical potential and developed a tiny and highly affordable smart sensor which has the genuine capacity to massively improve the cost, efficiency and compliance of a vital aspect of day-to-day FM operations - the control of Legionella bacteria in engineered water systems. I am very much looking forward to being a part of InferSens’ exciting journey.”