ASHEVILLE — Ecobot is acquiring one of its competitors.
The Asheville-based startup, which provides an app specializing in transformative environmental data reporting, has bought the wetland delineation software platform WetForm.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Ecobot’s founder Lee Lance said the move will will “solidify Ecobot as the preeminent software provider in the space.” WetForm, created in 1997, was the first software platform of its kind, he added, and enhances Ecobot’s domain expertise.
WetForm customers will have full access to the Ecobot platform: a submeter-accurate wetland app which includes enhanced Esri ArcGIS mapping technology, and a cloud-based project management and delivery dashboard. Patrick Murphy, WetForm’s founder, will join the Ecobot team as senior wetland scientist.
“Pat Murphy collaborated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop the initial wetland delineation workflow and was one of the first scientists to perform a wetland delineation,” said Lance, in a statement. “His remarkable vision and his workflow-centric approach to building WetForm catapulted the industry forward. We are excited to collaborate with him and introduce his customers to Ecobot.”
Founded in 2018, Ecobot bills itself as the only cloud-based platform that provides true efficiency, accuracy, and reliability to wetland scientists, allowing them to complete U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) wetland delineations twice as fast.
Currently, many businesses that conduct environmental field research rely on a three-page paper documents. Often scientists are using a pen in the field to document observations about water, plant life, and soil quality, and later transcribing their observations and notes into a computer database system.
It started with a $450,000 seed investment round led by Cary-based Cofounders Capital, and has been growing ever since.
Last March, It comes a little more than one year after Ecobot landed a partnership with Esri, a California-based geospatial software and SaaS company. That enabled the addition of familiar geospatial modeling, mapping, georeferencing, and data collection capabilities within the wetland delineation app.
“It is satisfying to know that WetForm values and features will influence and migrate to Ecobot,” says Patrick Murphy, founder of WetForm, in a statement. “It is also exciting that the GIS features of Ecobot will exceed WetForm’s capabilities, providing a better overall benefit to hard-working field personnel. This merger takes the past and propels it well into the future.”
Asheville’s Ecobot teams up with global leader Esri for powerful mapping analytics
