What vorteX-io does

vorteX-io is a Toulouse-based French climate-tech company, founded in 2019, that builds and operates a dense network of autonomous, solar-powered, bridge-mounted micro-stations (current generation v.2.1) which use non-contact remote sensing — LiDAR plus optical and thermal infrared imaging — to measure water height, surface velocity, flow rate and surface temperature without immersing any sensor in the watercourse. Measurements are aggregated, visualised and alerted through MAELSTROM®, a registered SaaS platform that adds threshold-based notifications, temporal and localised comparisons, and (in development) AI-based predictive indicators including a flood-forecasting model and image-based bathymetry-driven flow estimation.

The company's offering is sold primarily as a recurring monthly subscription that bundles installation, maintenance and upgrades (no separate installation fee), with a no-credit-card freemium self-serve tier for top-of-funnel conversion, and quote-based multi-year contracts for bespoke and international deployments. Go-to-market combines product-led sign-up, direct inside-sales, certified distributors (Hydrométéo, Waterjade) and flagship public-sector engagement via the EIC Accelerator-funded WHYLD programme (targeting 1,000 stations across France and Croatia) and the HydroVenture space-hydrology consortium. Customer segments span local authorities and water agencies (AEAG, OFB, multiple métropoles and water syndicates), enterprises exposed to flood risk (SNCF Réseau, EDF, AXA Climate, Huttopia), engineering consultancies (Philia Ingénierie, Egis) and space/public research bodies (CNES, for SWOT satellite cal/val), with parametric-insurance buyers (Descartes Underwriting, Galiléo Courtage) emerging as a dedicated vertical. The company is venture-backed (€2.9M in June 2024 and an €8.5M round announced 27 May 2026, cumulative ~€11.4M+) with institutional investors including Banque des Territoires, MAIF Impact, AFI Ventures, Ventech, SpaceFounders France and Daphni/Seventure Partners.

Name

vorteX-io

Legal name

VORTEX.IO

Website

https://vortex-io.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Toulouse-based vorteX-io builds autonomous, bridge-mounted micro-stations and the MAELSTROM® SaaS platform to deliver real-time hydrological measurements (water height, surface velocity, flow, temperature) for local authorities, insurers, infrastructure operators and engineering firms across France and Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Hydrological Monitoring Services

NAICS

Water Supply and Irrigation Systems (22131), Water Supply and Irrigation Systems (221310)

SIC

Water Supply (4941)

akta.pro primary industry

Network Monitoring & Smart Water Sensors (Pressure/Flow/Noise Loggers, IoT) (EUANAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Real-Time Monitoring & Smart Stormwater (Sensors, SCADA/IoT, RTC) (EUANAEAK), Real-Time Leak Alarms & Event Management (Analytics Platforms, Workflows) (EUANAKAK), Continuous/Remote Monitoring Systems (IoT Sensors, Telemetry, Networks) (EUAHACAL), Water & Wastewater Utility IoT (SCADA, Leak/Quality Monitoring) (EUADAPAK)

Keywords

• Flood risk monitoring
• River hydrometry services
• Hydrological sensor networks
• Water resource management
• Water data analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

Toulouse

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Monthly subscription to hydrological monitoring service: Recurring subscription model where customers pay a monthly fee for access to real-time hydrological data and the Maelstrom® platform. Installation, maintenance, and upgrades of micro-stations are included; there are no installation fees. Discounts are offered for long-term commitments and large-scale/multi-station deployments, and dedicated offers exist for local authorities and research institutes.
2. Subscription with deferred billing until service activation: Customers can select stations currently being installed; billing only starts from the actual service launch date, reducing friction for early sign-ups and providing committed future revenue.
3. Freemium self-serve trial: Free, no-commitment trial account gives prospects access to demonstration stations and core platform features, serving as a top-of-funnel acquisition mechanism that converts into paid subscriptions.
4. Custom / project-based pricing for bespoke deployments: Tailored quotes for specific projects, deployments outside metropolitan France, large-scale rollouts, or multi-station contracts, accepted via bank transfer or credit card.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion5 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

vorteX-io sells a monthly subscription to a real-time hydrological monitoring service built on a deployed network of solar-powered, bridge-mounted micro-stations that measure water height, surface velocity, flow rate and surface temperature using non-contact LiDAR, optical and thermal infrared remote sensing, with all data aggregated and analyzed in the Maelstrom® SaaS platform. The subscription includes installation, maintenance and upgrades of the micro-stations, threshold-based alerts and historical comparison features, and is delivered to local authorities, insurers, transport and energy operators, engineering firms, and space agencies for flood prevention, low-flow management, aquatic environment protection and satellite altimetry calibration/validation.

Product overview

vorteX-io offers a unified hydrological-monitoring offering built around two interlocking components: a deployed network of autonomous, bridge-mounted vorteX-io micro-stations (currently v.2.1) that perform in-situ measurements of water height, surface velocity, flow rate and surface temperature via optical and thermal infrared imaging, and the MAELSTROM® cloud platform that aggregates, visualizes and analyzes this data. The MAELSTROM® platform delivers a set of platform features — Quantitative measurements, Surface temperature, Notifications, and Temporal and localized comparison of measurements — packaged into use-case services including Flood risk detection, Low-flow management, Preservation of aquatic environments, and Satellite Calibration/Validation. The WHYLD strategic program (supported by the European Innovation Council) and the HydroVenture space-hydrology center extend this footprint to a pan-European scale, while the NewsWater newsletter serves as a content and engagement channel for the hydrological community.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Maelstrom®: vorteX-io's proprietary hydrological SaaS platform for analyzing real-time watercourse data, generating alerts and serving as the company's decision-support platform.

Products and services

• Maelstrom® platform Cloud-based hydrological SaaS platform that aggregates real-time data from the vorteX-io micro-station network and delivers quantitative measurements (water height, surface velocity, flow rate), surface temperature, personalized real-time notifications, and temporal/localized comparison of measurements to support flood-risk detection, low-flow management, aquatic-environment preservation and satellite cal/val. Access is delivered under a monthly subscription that includes installation, maintenance and upgrades of the connected micro-stations.
• vorteX-io micro-station (v.2.1) Autonomous, bridge-mounted hydrological micro-station (design heritage from the space domain) that performs in-situ measurements of water height, surface velocity, flow rate and surface temperature using LiDAR, optical and thermal infrared remote sensing, with no sensor immersed in the water. Solar-powered, remotely monitored, low-maintenance; deployed as part of the Maelstrom® subscription service for local authorities, enterprises, insurers, transport networks, engineering firms and space agencies.
• Flood risk detection service Continuous monitoring of watercourse height and surface velocity with threshold-based notifications delivered through the Maelstrom® platform, designed to anticipate floods and reduce human and material impact for local authorities, companies and transport networks. Targets flood risk detection, low-flow management and protection of aquatic environments as configured use-cases of the Maelstrom subscription.
• Low-flow management service Service for monitoring water height, surface velocity and flow of watercourses during drought and low-water periods to support balanced water-resource distribution and management, delivered through the Maelstrom® platform.
• Preservation of aquatic environments service Network of stations providing real-time measurement of quantitative parameters (water level, velocity, flow) and surface temperature, with an extensive database and time-comparison functions to support the monitoring and sustainable management of wetlands and aquatic ecosystems, delivered through the Maelstrom® platform.
• Satellite calibration / validation (Cal/Val) service Ground-based in-situ measurements provided by the micro-station network to support space agencies and satellite operators (e.g., the SWOT mission) in calibrating and validating spatial altimetry measurements.
• WHYLD (Worldwide Hydrological Large-Scale Database) hydrological service EIC Accelerator-funded pan-European hydrological service built on a planned network of 1,000 vorteX-io micro-stations across rivers in France and Croatia, designed to deliver the first European-scale, real-time in-situ hydrological database and a 'weather of watercourses' forecasting service. Customers and partners include regional public bodies, space agencies and research institutes.

Quantifiable outcome

• 99.9% of data accessible in less than 1 hour; 95.1% accessible in less than 15 minutes.
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability8 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered flagship ecosystem alliance, core insurance-distribution partner, flagship space-agency partner, flagship regional public partner, flagship water-agency partner, core r&d partner, core distributor and core marketing/crm technology partner.

• HydroVenture consortiumflagship ecosystem allianceStrategic or Co-development Partner · 28 March 2024vorteX-io co-founded HydroVenture, the first operational center for spatial hydrology in France, bringing together industry, space, and research actors.
• Galiléo Courtagecore insurance-distribution partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 December 2023Partnership launched in December 2023 to deliver flood-risk insurability solutions for French campings deprived of insurance, combining vorteX-io real-time data with Galiléo Courtage's brokerage expertise.
• CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales)flagship space-agency partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerR&D partnership with CNES on remote-sensing water quality measurement (surface temperature and turbidity) using vorteX-io micro-stations; supports SWOT satellite cal/val. CNES also runs SpaceFounders, which invested in vorteX-io.
• Région Nouvelle-Aquitaineflagship regional public partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerPublic regional partner supporting the WHYLD project and the deployment of vorteX-io stations in Nouvelle-Aquitaine; engagement with president Alain Rousset.
• Région Occitanieflagship regional public partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerPublic regional partner supporting the WHYLD project and the deployment of vorteX-io stations in Occitanie; engagement with president Carole Delga and VP Nadia Pellefigue.
• Agence de l'Eau Adour-Garonne (AEAG)flagship water-agency partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-funding and co-developing R&D on remote measurement of surface temperature and turbidity of watercourses using vorteX-io micro-stations; also a customer using vorteX-io data.
• Office Français de la Biodiversité (OFB)core r&d partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner on R&D project (with AEAG and CNES) to develop innovative remote-sensing methods for water quality measurement using vorteX-io micro-stations.
• Hydrométéocore distributorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDistributor of vorteX-io hydrological services; logo displayed on the company pricing page.
• Waterjadecore distributorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDistributor of vorteX-io hydrological services; logo displayed on the company pricing page.
• HubSpotcore marketing/crm technology partnerTechnology or IntegrationHubSpot is used as the marketing/CRM platform: HubSpot Forms for newsletter subscription and contact forms, HubSpot Meetings for booking calls, and HubSpot File Manager for hosting lead-magnet PDFs (fiches pratiques inondation).

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Broad incumbents

• OTT HydroMet (Veralto): A global incumbent in hydrological and meteorological instrumentation (water level, flow, weather stations) with associated data-management software, serving the same water agencies, engineering firms and public-sector customers as vorteX-io — but using traditional immersed-sensor and rating-curve architectures rather than non-contact remote sensing.
• Campbell Scientific: Long-established provider of rugged environmental dataloggers and sensors used in hydrology, meteorology and water-quality monitoring worldwide. Comparable as a provider of in-situ hydrological measurement infrastructure feeding research and water-authority networks, although with a broader instrumentation portfolio and no specialized SaaS flood-forecasting platform.
• Teledyne RD Instruments: Global incumbent in acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) and flow-measurement instruments widely used for river discharge and hydrometric gauging. Comparable on the core problem of measuring river flow and velocity for water agencies, representing the traditional contact-based approach vorteX-io is trying to displace.
• In-Situ Inc. US-based manufacturer of water-quality, level and flow instrumentation with telemetry and software for environmental monitoring. Comparable in delivering continuous in-situ hydrological measurements with remote data access to environmental and municipal customers.

Direct peers

• KISTERS: German software and data-management specialist for water, hydrology and environmental monitoring (KISTERS WISKI, KiHYC, KiMON), widely used by European water agencies and engineering consultancies. Comparable because it sells both the data platform layer and integrates with field sensors for hydrometric time series — directly overlapping vorteX-io's MAELSTROM® value proposition.
• Fluves: Belgian company providing distributed fiber-optic and IoT hydrological / leak / sewer monitoring services to water utilities and cities. Comparable because it offers a SaaS platform for continuous water-infrastructure monitoring with a sensor-network + data-software model targeted at the same European water and city buyers as vorteX-io.
• Ijinus: French specialist in connected water-level, flow and water-quality sensors for hydrometry and wastewater networks, sold to local authorities and engineering firms. Closely comparable customer base (French communes, syndicats de rivière, bureaux d'études) and product overlap (in-situ hydrological measurement with telemetry and SaaS dashboards).

Emerging players

• Sencrop: French connected-agriculture weather and micro-climate sensor network, with a SaaS platform and freemium entry points very similar to vorteX-io's PLG motion. Comparable as a French IoT-meets-SaaS company building a dense, real-time environmental data network — but for ag-weather rather than hydrology.
• Aquaread: UK-based manufacturer of multiparameter water-quality sondes and monitoring stations for rivers, lakes and groundwater. Comparable in providing continuous, real-time in-situ water data feeding environmental and regulatory use cases, though focused on water-quality chemistry rather than LiDAR-based flow/level.
• Sensoterra: Dutch provider of wireless soil-moisture and water-management sensors with a SaaS dashboard, sold to municipalities, agriculture and infrastructure operators. Comparable as a European IoT environmental-monitoring company using a sensor-plus-platform model to sell to similar public-sector and infrastructure buyers.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vortex-io
• Xx.com/vortex_io
• Facebookfacebook.com/VorteXio-SAS

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors7 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about vorteX-io