The Problem

Over the past decade, smart home intelligence and electrification have begun transforming how American homes produce and consume energy, turning passive utility customers into active electric grid participants. Yet the home water heater remains the last frontier for home electrification. Nearly 10M units are sold annually in the U.S., accounting for almost 20% of household energy consumption and 4% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions - on par with aviation.

The Right Technology, The Wrong Design

Heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) are 3–5X more efficient than fossil fuel or resistance heaters because they move heat rather than generate it directly. However, today’s HPWHs still operate as water heaters have for 100 years: wait for water to cool down, reheat it, and repeat. This prevents HPWHs from realizing their true potential for savings, energy efficiency, performance, and grid integration.

The Solution

Cala is the first intelligent HPWH. Powered by patented Predictive Intelligence and advanced hardware, Cala learns each home’s unique hot water usage patterns to optimize heating - ensuring ample hot water, lowering energy costs, and coordinating seamlessly with home solar, batteries, and variable electricity rates. Just as Nest transformed thermostats, Cala elevates expectations for water heaters while giving contractors the back-end reliability and monitoring needed to eliminate callbacks.

Unstoppable Macro Tailwinds

Powerful market forces are driving growth for HPWHs and Cala. Accelerating consumer adoption of EVs, heat pumps, and solar is increasing HPWH demand. Over 45 states offer rebates, and fully finalized federal regulations (NAECA 4) taking effect in May 2029 will require most residential electric water heaters to use heat pump technology - expanding HPWH sales to over 2 million units/year and making them a $7B category.

Proven Operational Excellence, Now Scaling

Cala launched in late 2025 following extensive R&D and rigorous industry safety certifications. Operating out of a 25,000 sq. ft. Massachusetts facility capable of producing over 15,000 units annually (~$50M ARR capacity), Cala has grown to a $2M ARR with over 100 device-years of real world field data.

Led by industry veterans from Bose, Mitsubishi, EnerNOC, and SharkNinja, Cala is backed by top climate investors including Burnt Island Ventures, Mass Clean Energy Center, Clean Energy Venture Group, and Leap Forward Ventures.

We invite you to join us as an investor as we scale production and revenue across the U.S.

Invest in Cala today.

HPWH sales grew 30% annually from 2021 to 2023 (the last year data was publicly available) and are on track to form a $7B market by 2030, driven by five macro catalysts:

1. Massive Cost Savings: Water heating is the 2nd largest household energy expense. Switching from resistance water heating (46% of U.S. households) to a HPWH can save a family of four $600 per year at the national average price of electricity.
2. Widespread Awareness: Over 95% of contractors and half of single-family homeowners are now aware of HPWHs as the better alternative to traditional fossil fuel and electric systems.
3. Electrification Demand: Homeowners are increasingly choosing all-electric appliances, driven by rising energy costs, superior performance, health concerns, and climate alignment. Once homes have moved to induction stoves, heat pumps, EVs or solar, HPWHs are the only cost-effective technology for water heating.
4. State & Local Incentives: Financial rebates across 45+ states shorten payback periods for homeowners purchasing HPWHs. Stretch building codes, green banks, and regional bans are also driving adoption.
5. 2029 Federal Mandate (NAECA 4): Finalized federal rules mandate heat pump technology on standard electric tank units with a capacity of 35 gallons or higher starting May 2029, driving HPWH adoption past 2M units per year.

Future projections are not guaranteed and are subject to change.

The Shortcomings of HPWHs

Today’s HPWHs were built by applying heat pump technology to legacy electric resistance water heaters. They heat water reactively, i.e. only after it cools down or is drawn out. To compensate for slow recovery, HPWHs frequently use the wasteful electric resistance elements which undermine the energy savings and performance homeowners expect. Crucially, today’s units are incapable of co-optimizing with home solar production, battery storage, or dynamic Time-of-Use (TOU) utility rates.

Traditional systems also require users to manually program a setpoint temperature while navigating confusing operational modes like “Eco”, “Hybrid”, or “High Demand.” This makes it nearly impossible to optimize hot water delivery, energy efficiency, and savings. If a homeowner selects an aggressive energy-saving mode, they risk running out of hot water during back-to-back showers. If they switch to high-demand mode, their power bills spike. For contractors, these performance tradeoffs lead to frequent customer callbacks, complex installation requirements, and a general reluctance to recommend HPWHs over standard fossil fuel or electric resistance units.

How Cala’s Design is Different

Cala customizes water heating for each home, each day - a concept so simple that the most common reaction from pros and homeowners is: “That just makes sense.” Here’s how Cala works:

1. Integrated Flow Sensor: Measures real-time water draws to adapt to each home’s unique hot water rhythms.
2. Predictive Intelligence: Locally run algorithm plans optimal water heating, leveraging usage patterns, local electricity rates, solar generation, and other data feeds. Cala Predictive Intelligence is built on a patent exclusively licensed from the National Lab of the Rockies.
3. Variable Speed Compressor: Adjusts heating output dynamically, running up to 25% more efficiently at lower speeds compared to fixed-speed competitors that are either on full blast or not at all.
4. Integrated Mixing Valve: Stores water at higher internal tank temperatures to expand virtual capacity by up to 50% while delivering safe and comfortable water to the home without increasing the unit's physical footprint.
5. Modeless Operation: Operates autonomously without manual temperature modes or programming.
6. Remote Monitoring: Cala’s best-in-class software platform enables real-time device monitoring, providing rapid, proactive support with reduced callbacks for contractors and peace of mind for homeowners.

The Result: Cala provides valuable benefits to professional contractors and homeowners alike:

1. Pros: Higher effective hot water delivery eliminates cold shower complaints, while remote monitoring prevents costly callbacks. Backed by a 10-year warranty, Cala offers higher profit margins and qualified leads via the Cala Pro network.
2. Homeowners: Cala provides lower energy bills and a reliable supply of hot water, even at times of peak demand. For homeowners with TOU rates, Cala shifts water heating to low-priced periods but still ensures ample hot water at times of high usage. For homes with solar but not net metering, the system shifts the load to midday when the panels generate surplus.

Since launching in Q4 2025, Cala has deployed hundreds of units across 36 states -with performance metrics validating successful real-world performance:

1. 99.7% Hot Water Reliability: Onboard flow monitoring proves virtually zero cold-water delivery issues.
2. 70% Low-Speed Operation: Systems spend the majority of run-time in high-efficiency, low-noise compressor speeds, extending hardware lifespan.
3. 7% Resistance Element Usage: A recent study showed traditional HPWHs draw up to 35% of their energy from backup electric resistance. Cala ran the same calculations on its own fleet and demonstrated only 7% element resistance usage, proving it’s a heat pump water heater that actually acts like one.
4. 34% Active Energy Optimization: Over one-third of fleet units are actively synchronized with rooftop solar, TOU rates, or both, validating our thesis that consumers treat Cala as an intelligent thermal battery.
5. Proven Field Reliability: Device metrics and field data confirm overall system reliability in line with top-tier industry norms, proving that Cala's variable-speed hardware and best-in-class software architecture perform reliably under real-world conditions.
6. Homeowner Satisfaction and Feedback: Cala’s Net Promoter Score is 76, extremely high for a hardware product. Further, homeowners regularly tell us that they understand Cala’s benefits:

"I’ve been researching HPWHs for a long time and yours is the first system I’ve seen that looks like it is a thoughtfully designed and engineered system - not just a slightly different version of the same old thing.” Prospective Cala Customer

“The Cala design of using a variable speed heat pump and a mixing valve make perfect sense. Add the predictive capability ensure you have enough hot water based on your actual usage patterns is genius.” Jeff, Cala Homeowner

In a market where pros install over 80% of units, scaling up requires both trade buy-in and direct market pull. Cala solves this by building the Cala Pro Network and marketing to homeowners seeking intelligent, efficient water heating. Cala connects both sides through three interlocking channels:

1. Cala Pro Network (B2B2C): Trained contractor partners market, sell and install Cala. Our network is 150 strong and growing by 20–30 new contractors monthly. 48% of unit sales to date are via Cala Pros, demonstrating rapid adoption in a conservative industry.
2. Managed Lead Fulfillment: Cala generates high-intent homeowner leads via digital marketing and solar/battery partners and hands them directly to Cala Pro installers. 12% of units sales to date are via leads provided to our Cala Pros.
3. Direct-to-Consumer (D2C): Homeowners purchase directly online and work with their preferred plumbers, many of whom become Cala Pros. 40% of units sales to date are via D2C.

The Contractor Flywheel Effect: Homeowner demand introduces plumbers to their first Cala unit. Once contractors experience the easy installation, high customer satisfaction, and lack of callbacks, they convert into repeat buyers and active co-marketers.

I'm from an HVAC company in Colorado and have a client specifically asking for your water heater. Hunter, CO

I'm trying to get set up as a vendor with you guys. One of my customers is very interested in Cala. Dave, MA

Our Cala Pro Contractors regularly tell us that they understand Cala’s design and how our singular focus on delivering the world’s best HPWH benefits their business:

Just finished our first installation - thrilled. We've been waiting for a manufacturer to actually care about building a better HPWH. Tim, OH.

This is so cool - you can find an issue before we even get a call. This is our "why" for pushing these so much right now. Dom, MA

We're all in - Cala is all we offer customers. Ilija, MA

One of my customers recently purchased a Cala and I'm interested in the same for my own home. Martin, MD

Now that we've installed one we're sold. It's really the technicians who choose what to offer and they really like it. Terry, NY

Cala has exited the launch phase: reliability, performance and go-to-market are validated, and manufacturing capacity is in place. With these milestones complete, our focus is now on rapidly scaling revenue by investing in sales and marketing, expanding geographically, and adding new products:

Future projections are not guaranteed and are subject to change.

Cala’s initial market is the rapidly accelerating U.S. residential HPWH segment - a category projected to reach $7B by 2030. However, high-margin hardware sales in the core residential water heating category are only the entry point for Cala’s broader platform strategy:

1. Phase 1 - Residential HPWHs ($7B TAM): Cala captures high-margin market share via its Cala Pro network.
2. Phase 2 - Energy Markets and Adjacent Residential Categories ($20B TAM): Cala aggregates its HPWH fleet into distributed thermal batteries for utility grid programs and recurring software revenue. In addition, Cala moves into adjacent hardware categories (light commercial water heating, thermal energy storage) and software (predictive control of HVAC, pools, etc.).
3. Phase 3 - Commercial and International Expansion ($50B TAM): Cala expands its offerings to commercial water heating as well as international markets.

Future projections are not guaranteed and are subject to change.

Cala is building a unique company at the intersection of five massive, converging sectors: water heating, HVAC, smart home, grid technology, and water treatment. Recent acquisitions illustrate this convergence:

Cala offers unique capabilities with differentiated value to potential partners and acquirers in these industries.

1. Vertically Integrated Business: Tight collaboration between hardware, software, and manufacturing unlocks high-precision assembly, rapid product iterations, and optimized unit economics.
2. Installer Network: Systematically building a loyal, nationwide installer network solves one of the hardest challenges in the built environment - how to deliver high volume sales at low CAC.
3. Brand Ownership in Electrification: Legacy brands remain associated with hidden, passive utility appliances bought during emergencies. Cala is establishing itself as the aspirational, design-forward choice for homeowners and contractors alike.
4. Patented Predictive Intelligence: Cala’s onboard Predictive Intelligence delivers best-in-class capabilities that incumbents lack and are not set-up to develop in-house.
5. Fleet Performance Data: Proprietary data collected across thousands of household usage cycles creates a widening algorithmic moat - continuously refining predictive heating accuracy and optimizing whole-home energy orchestration in ways off-the-shelf legacy units cannot replicate.
6. A Unique Grid Asset: As the installed fleet grows, every unit functions as a connected thermal battery, unlocking customer value and high-margin software revenues through utility partners.

Cala’s team is a seasoned group of hardware and software builders, with backgrounds at leading consumer hardware and energy companies such as Bose, Mitsubishi, EnerNOC, ASICS, and SharkNinja, with ties to top academic institutions including Stanford, McGill, Dartmouth, and Boston University.

CEO & Cofounder Michael Rigney is a 2x founder and climate and energy leader with over 20 years across EnerNOC (IPO), Gridco Systems, and EnergySavvy; he has raised $17M and led teams to $100M+ in revenue. VP Hardware & Cofounder Mike Ting is a hardware veteran with a dozen patents and over a decade building consumer products from proof-of-concept through launch at global leaders including Bose and SharkNinja.

With deep expertise across consumer products, controls engineering, manufacturing, and energy markets, our team has shipped and scaled consumer hardware products generating billions in sales, built software used by tens of millions of people, and established factories to launch global product lines.

As water heating undergoes a generational shift toward electrification, Cala provides the intelligent hardware and edge software required for modern home energy networks.

We invite you to join us as an investor as we scale production and grow revenue across the U.S.

Invest in Cala today.