The spinout of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill raises $1.6m to bring its water loss monitoring system to clients across the US.

Valor Water Analytics, a spinout from the Environmental Finance Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has raised $1.6m in its latest funding round.

The round was led by Shore Ventures II with participation from Apsara Capital, Syzygy West, Urban Innovation Fund and 500 Startups.

Founded in 2013, Valor Water Analytics has developed technology that provides water utility companies with data on water loss in their systems. The spinout claims that, for one utility company, the system was able to identify 52 billion gallons of water being lost – worth $122m in revenue.

The funding will go towards an expansion across the US and the deployment of Valor’s technology for a partnership it has recently entered into.

In 2014, the company raised $130,000 from undisclosed investors. That same year, it also obtained a $20,000 investment as part of its participation in accelerator Tumml.

According to a securities filing, the company also raised $140,000 in August 2015.

Christine Boyle, founder of Valor Water Analytics, said: “Water utilities can no longer afford to conduct water loss audits every 4–5 years, and need to integrate water loss monitoring into everyday operations so they can respond to changes in water use and meter degradation in real time.

“Valor Water Analytics provides an integrated solution so utilities can track water loss in real time and with a new level of information and efficiency.”