SmartTerra, a Bengaluru-based water intelligence start-up, has raised US$1 million in its pre-Series A round led by Siana Capital. Angel investors Shalini Chhabra and Kumar Ganapathy from 3i Partners also participated. This marks SmartTerra’s first funding round.
SmartTerra develops AI-driven analytics for municipal and industrial water utilities. Its platform supports leak detection, network performance monitoring, and asset reliability management, offering real-time visibility into ageing and complex water systems to enable faster operational decisions and measurable water savings.
The company collaborates with infrastructure partners including SUEZ India and Larsen & Toubro (L&T), as well as utilities in Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad. These deployments have contributed to a reduction of non-revenue water by eleven million litres per day and improved service reliability in water-stressed areas.
SmartTerra has been recognised by international platforms such as Imagine H2O, the World Economic Forum, and the AMRUT 2.0 start-up programme conducted by India’s Ministry of Home and Urban Affairs.
Navaneethan Santhanam, co-founder and chief executive officer of SmartTerra, said: “SmartTerra came into being with a simple premise: AI can help cities and industries solve their most pressing water challenges. The opportunity to work with complex, multi-faceted, unstructured data and extract insights from them is unique. Building AI that ensures the smooth functioning of our water systems is exciting. We’re thrilled to work with more cities, factories, and regions to modernise their operations using AI.”
Archana Hingorani, partner at Siana Capital, said: “SmartTerra brings deep-tech discipline to a sector that has seen limited digital adoption. Their platform has the potential to change how cities and industries manage, monitor, and protect their most critical resource.”
Giridharan Sengaiah, chief operating officer, said: “Global digital water spend is US$14 billion each year, yet cities lose billions of litres of water daily. Our AI platform gives utilities full visibility into the health of their networks and the ability to intervene early. The goal is simple: each drop should reach the people it is meant for. Our AI supports both sustainability and efficiency at scale.”
SmartTerra intends to use the new funding to expand its presence in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, building on its ongoing and past pilots with utilities such as PUB Singapore.
The company will also strengthen product development and partnerships to support the digital transformation of municipal and industrial water systems. As it grows, SmartTerra is expanding its engineering and data science teams to support long-term product development and global deployment.
