VAPAR named 1 of SmartCompany’s 10 Startups to Watch in 2021

Sydney-based VAPAR has been named one of SmartCompany’s 10 Startups to Watch in 2021. 

Founded by Australian engineers Amanda Siqueira and Michelle Aguilar in 2018, VAPAR was one of eight companies selected for the second United Utilities Innovation Lab.

Siqueira and Aguilar launched the company with a mission to cut down the long turnaround times for repairs in underground stormwater and sewerage pipelines. By automating condition assessment directly from pipe CCTV footage, their cloud platform has transformed what was once a two-week manual process into a two-minute job.

VAPAR users, including councils and utilities, benefit from superior accuracy in the tracking of maintenance and repair requirements in their infrastructure, as well as significant savings in associated labour costs. 

By July 2020 VAPAR had raised AU$700,000 in seed funding and one month later the team received AU$490,000 as part of the federal government’s Accelerating Commercialisation grant scheme. Siqueira and Aguilar plan to use the grant money to further scale the business and double-down on their UK expansion. 

VAPAR finished 2020 on a high having been announced the winner of the Future Water Association’s flagship ‘Water Dragons’ award in December.