More than a year after winning the EIC Accelerator, vorteX-io gets WHYLD off the ground with a massive deployment of micro-stations and a round of financing.
The issue of sustainable water resource management is more topical than ever. Faced with the growing challenges of climate change, such as the intensification of droughts and floods, it is crucial to have reliable, real-time hydrological data to better protect property and populations. In this context, vorteX-io’s WHYLD project is an innovative solution.
Launched in March 2023 with the support of the European Innovation Council, WHYLD aims to deploy a network of 1,000 in-situ measurement micro-stations by the end of 2024 in France and Croatia, and a further 2,000 by 2026 across Europe. These micro-stations, veritable river sentinels, will collect invaluable hydrological parameters essential for monitoring and forecasting rivers: water level, velocity, flow, surface temperature…
And there’s more to come!
Fundraising to support deployment
To support the accelerated deployment of the WHYLD project, vorteX-io raised 2.9 million euros in May 2024, in addition to the 2.5 million euros initially granted by the European Innovation Council. This fund-raising will enable us to finance the installation of new micro-stations, strengthen our teams to effectively manage the growth of our network, and support our Research & Development activities.
vorteX-io’s ambition is to become Europe’s leading provider of real-time, in-situ hydrological data.
European deployment underway
For several months now, in parallel with the manufacture of the industrial version of the micro-stations, our teams have been meticulously analyzing numerous sites to ensure their perfect suitability for the instrumentation: sufficient sunlight to power the solar panel, good GSM reception to enable data transmission, sufficient height to ensure that the most frequent floods do not reach the station, installation beyond the reach of potential acts of vandalism… They then proceeded to apply for the authorizations required for any installation.
In France, 500 sites will be equipped with micro-stations by January 2025, of which over 200 by the end of summer 2024, mainly in the Ile-de-France, South-West and South-East regions in France. In Croatia, thanks to our collaboration with the Croatian Water Agency (Hrvastske Vode), 500 sites will also be equipped this year, with almost 300 completed by the end of the summer period.
The WHYLD project thus illustrates the exemplary cooperation between vorteX-io and public water stakeholders in France and Croatia, to achieve a common goal: better monitoring of watercourses to better protect property and populations, and improve water management.
International ambitions
The WHYLD project is part of the ambitious global initiative “Early Warning for Allinitiative, launched by the United Nations in November 2022 at COP27 and led by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). This international effort aims to provide 100% of the world’s population with access to early warning systems by the end of 2027, protecting them from the dangers of extreme meteorological, hydrological and climatic phenomena.
In this context, vorteX-io works closely with the WMO and the Global Water Partnership. This partnership aims to support the activities of the Associated Programme on Flood Management (APFM), which promotes an integrated flood management approach.
Growing teams
The WHYLD project requires a strong team to support the company’s rapid expansion! In just one year, the number of employees who have joined the vorteX-io adventure has more than doubled. Today, 35 men and women bring together all the skills needed to design, develop, support and promote our innovative solutions.
A dozen more recruitments are underway for 2024, and we plan to double our workforce by 2026 to almost 80 employees.
A promising future for Europe’s first river forecasting service
With its burgeoning European deployment and solid financial backing, the WHYLD project is set to play a crucial role in the revolution in real-time hydrological monitoring.
It demonstrates the potential oftechnological innovation and international cooperation to meet the major challenges of water resource management. We would like to thank the European Innovation Council, which has made a significant contribution to the project’s success by opening up numerous avenues for collaboration throughout Europe!
The adventure continues…
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