Invest in Groundworx

The GroundWorx Story by Brad David, CEO

The GroundWorx GX-1A and the platform it supports provides both above and below ground data as a “software as a service” for the strategic management of water and resources by growers and turf managers.

I recognized the need for a simple, wireless solution several years ago while golfing with a friend. My years in the wireless industry opened my eyes to the need for a tool that would allow Golf Course superintendents to track key data points that would help them manage their water and other resources. Working with Diego Borrego, a lean trained electrical engineer with years of experience in Auto Design (GM), we invented the, now patented, GX-1A. An in-ground meter that monitors moisture, salt and temperature. This information, is tracked along with local micro-climate data, using our proprietary weather station, to provide a complete picture of conditions for a particular location. The unit stores all the information in the cloud through Amazon Web Services via the telephone wireless network. The information is accessible through the GroundWorx application distributed through Apple and Android.

After hundreds of conversations with golf superintendents we designed and tested the GX-1A and, starting 36 months ago, began deploying these units in the U.S. and other worldwide locations. People in other industries, like sports fields, parks management, commercial landscaping, and agriculture soon took an interest, and we expanded our deployment.

The system has deployed successfully in New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, Scotland, and the U.S. with 99.5% reliability. Results have been quickly seen in these locations and our sales have steadily increased. The platform generates recurring revenues through monthly subscription income and the GX-1A can be purchased outright or can be part of the subscription and requires no up front costs.

The potential for the GroundWorx platform is incredible. With installations at numerous golf courses, as well as sports stadiums like the LA Dodgers and SF Giants, not to mention Wineries, Botanical Gardens, and City Parks, we now recognize the wide application for our solution to the problems of drought and water use.

The world is changing, and drought conditions are having a huge impact on our environment! Cities and States have already begun issuing directives demanding water reductions. Many industries recognize the waste inherent in irrigation systems and are focusing on responsible environmental practices. There are few effective tools that are easy to install and to use, that allow all these operations to understand what is going on below the ground to better manage their resources. The GroundWorx platform is the solution to this problem.

Our platform saves money; saves time, energy, fertilizer and lots of water.

The conditions for healthy turf and healthy crops are well known. Water, salt, temperature and nutrients are the essentials for things to grow. Our meter tracks the conditions, compares them to the parameters set by the grower and sends alerts when conditions are not right. We measure conditions every 10 minutes and report every hour. And the results are available in real time on the mobile application. This allows growers to stay in touch with their facility and react to changing conditions. They can utilize the remote adjustment applications available on most modern irrigation systems to change watering programs.

Growers and facility managers know they have a responsibility to protect the environment. They also have a job to do. As cities and states become more stringent in their laws and controls, tools that verify and control irrigation need to be available. Resorts and cities are especially in need of effective and easy to use systems that demonstrate responsible water use. 70% of Global Freshwater is used for agricultural irrigation. This industry is woefully behind in using technoloby to manage their resources. Farms operate on very small margins. They need an effective system with quick ROI that can make a difference NOW! GroundWorx can make that difference.

Studies show that golf courses, sports fields, and commercial properties waste an enormous amount of water, energy, fertilizer, chemicals, and money.

Water Usage is off the charts!

As the population grows, the need for increased crop production is becoming more acute. Recreations facilities are necessary for a healthy and happy population, but their responsibility is also to be kind to the environment. We need to make every drop count and to cut down on overwatering to protect the limited resources that we all have to share.

Other problems include -

Drought, over-watering, expensive chemicals, and disease are impacting golf courses, fields, and commercial properties.

Treating these problems when they are visible to the naked eye is just too late.

The impacts of temperature, salt and moisture create the environment for disease or poor health in a crop. Trying to correct a problem after it has gained a foothold is much more expensive and requires more labor. Growers and managers need to be proactive and need real time data to do their jobs.

Our platform provides regional weather information as well as micro-weather data from our state-of-the-art solar powered weather station. Together with our ground meter, we read 17 vital data points. Not only ground moisture, salt and temperature, but also solar radiation, humidity, wind speed, evaporation and more. Information that is essential to judging the impact of weather on plants and soil.

Having real time information on weather and changing conditions keeps growers and turf managers in touch with their plants. For sports fields, this information helps managers keep the turf at the right firmness to improve playability and safety. Wet fields are slippery, dry fields are too hard, causing an increase in impact injuries. Weather it is agriculture, city parks, roadway or corporate landscaping, to be efficient and achieve quality results, information is fundamental to good management.

Our Mission is to enhance sustainability and the conservation efforts for Agronomists, Turf Professionals, and Golf Course Superintendents through data driven solutions.

Our environment is critical to our future. We can not ignore the impact of overuse of resources as well as the impact of over fertilization, and our carbon footprint. The artic was recently reported as being 12 degrees above normal during the winter of ‘23. This is a disaster in the making. GroundWorx not only gives new tools to the crop and turf industry, but the “Big Data” provided by our platform can provide vital information to government, universities and industry researching solutions to climate change.

We couple our core in-ground sensor service with our GX-1 Microweather™ Station which is a stand-alone, wireless unit that provides an additional 13 vital atmospheric data readings.

It is photocell powered and installs in 15-minutes.

The third component in the platform is the GroundWorx Sync™ – We are currently in development of our wireless, hand-held spot-check device. Ergonomically designed, weighing less than 4 lbs., it is rechargeable and takes readings in ten seconds and with our hyper-accurate GPS technology, our readings are accurate to 10cm.

This allows irrigation teams to quickly spot check and verify conditions in areas of concern to give the full picture of current conditions and gives them the information they need to determine watering patterns. This is especially important on sports fields and golf courses that have a variety of turf compositions, sun exposure and varied landscape.

We feature a full-service dashboard, mygroundworx.com, and a mobile app available in iOS and Android. The app features customizable reporting and we have built-in a task management platform complete with “in-app” messaging and team chat.

Multi-course Managers love our solution because it allows them to monitor multiple locations remotely.

Our platform tracks information and reports both real time and historical data. It can be accessed on the fly, from a phone, or in more detail from the office. The alerts function tells a manager when a specific location is outside of the desired range. These trends allow managers to fine tune irrigation patterns that can save millions of gallons of water, hours of energy and the labor required to run irrigation tools.

The results are seen in Water Savings, decreased electricity bills and less maintenance on pumping equipment.

Decreased salinity levels, decreased chemical and fertilizer use, decreased disease, and brings staff efficiencies.

Golf Course General Manager

"GroundWorx will be an invaluable tool for golf course Superintendents to manage watering schedules and staff resources along with decreasing risk of course disease. After seeing the evolution of the service over the past two years, I am impressed with the team’s dedication, and I look forward to using the service for years to come.”

From David Smallwood, Superintendent – Omni La Cost

My eyes tell me that I need to water this green, the GroundWorx data tells me otherwise…The savings on water usage will be immense.”

Superintendent – Club Corp.

Water Study – The Grand Golf Course, Grand Del Mar, Del Mar, California

This was a year over year study of months with little to no rainfall. The course was watered daily but irrigation was changed to match the measurements. The results were stunning and the savings significant. The costs of water in places like California, Arizona and other places in the South West are significant and every course in these areas use over on million gallons a day to water their courses. The annual cost is over $1M. 20% to 30% savings are anticipated in these areas for a substantial savings.

Golf Courses use 50% too much water - Golf Usage Study:

Revenues began in earnest in 2022. The impact of recurring revenues has a significant impact on revenue growth.

As early adopters refer our service, revenues will quickly grow.

And because the owner does the install, no labor is required to support growth.

The systems is so simple to use, a few hours of training are all that is required for a sales person to support a new operation.

Simple, easy to use, low labor requirements make this a scalable product and service with tremendous upside.

We have standard 12–36-month agreements. We also have a CAPEX purchase option or a Pure Subscription model.

Above and beyond the service revenues, we are creating valuable Big Data that we will monetize in the future to city municipalities, local governments, universities, and 3rd party weather providers .

Raised last $1.95M on previous Valuation of $7.5M – Achieved full hardware/software launch, manufacturing set-up milestones and have revenue and paying customers.

Received a 3rd Party valuation from Derivatas in July ’21 fo $12.5M. Current valuation for transition to C Corp was $13.5M

GroundWorx has raised over $1.5m in the last three years in one of the most difficult environments imaginable. Our partners have trusted us with their hard earned dollars because of the solid performance of our trials and the potential for world wide growth. To Ramp up sales, to hire qualified sales and support people, we need to amplify our fund raising efforts. This money will go to manufacturing and distribution along with the deployment of a sales and support team to drive sales.

To see a company like ours go from prototype to world-wide distribution, over 80 completed trials during covid and be in a position to expand deeper into the 12 countries we launched while adding new verticals in more geographic locations is an extraordinary accomplishment. In the near future we will complete our product development and fully develop our machine learning and artificial intelligence to maximize the platforms value.

Our senior leadership team has has varied and deep experience. Experience with startups, corporate organizations, quality management, international business and finance. Supporting our senior leaders is a group of advisers with extraordinary experience in international manufacturing, finance and early stage company leadership. The team is poised to take GroundWorx global and to drive extraordinary revenues and profitability.