What Aquacheck does

AquaCheck is a South African designer, manufacturer, and supplier of capacitance-based soil moisture monitoring equipment and irrigation management software, founded in 2002 and headquartered in Brackenfell, Cape Town. The company sells a fully integrated four-component system: Sub-Surface and Basic Wireless probes with up to 15 sensors per probe for soil moisture and temperature measurement at multiple depths; telemetry devices (AquaLink S400 solar, AquaLINK B400 battery, Bluetooth module, and Shuttle RF handheld) for cellular or manual data transmission; the ACWEB cloud-based irrigation management platform accessible via web and dedicated Android/iOS mobile apps; and tiered agronomy support subscriptions (Standard full-season and Mini 6-week start-up). Sub-Surface Probes carry CE and FCC certifications, and probes are backed by a 5-year carry-in warranty.

The company serves commercial farmers and agricultural growers across more than 30 countries on six continents, distributing primarily through a global network of regional distributors and agricultural outlets, with direct sales funneled through the Cape Town head office to the nearest local dealer. Revenue is generated from one-time hardware sales of probes and telemetry devices combined with recurring ACWEB software access and agronomy support subscriptions. The customer base is described as a single horizontal segment of agricultural farmers and growers addressing use cases including irrigation scheduling, water conservation, fertigation management, and yield optimization.

AquaCheck is privately held, founder-led by CEO Arthur Pickworth who designed the original probe architecture, and appears to be bootstrapped with no disclosed external investment, parent company, M&A activity, or institutional shareholders. Headcount is in the 11-50 range, with a long-tenured production, technical, and administrative team — including Production Manager Christiaan Stals who has been with the company since inception.

Name

Aquacheck

Legal name

AquaCheck

Website

https://aquacheck.co.za

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

AquaCheck designs, manufactures, and sells capacitance-based soil moisture probes, cellular telemetry devices, the ACWEB cloud irrigation management platform, and agronomy support subscriptions. The company serves commercial farmers and growers globally through a distributor network spanning more than 30 countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Precision Agriculture Equipment

SIC

Farm Machinery & Equipment (3523)

akta.pro primary industry

Precision Sensing & Monitoring (Soil/Weather Stations, In-Field Sensors, IoT) (AFAGALAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Irrigation Scheduling & Water Optimization Analytics (AFABAMAG), Irrigation Control & Automation (Controllers, Valves, Sensors, IoT) (AFAAACAF)

Keywords

• Soil moisture monitoring
• Irrigation management
• Capacitance probes
• Agricultural telemetry
• Irrigation software

Headquarters

HQ city

Cape Town

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Hardware Sales (Probes & Connectivity Devices): Sale of soil moisture monitoring equipment including capacitance-based probes and telemetry devices. Probes include a 5-year carry-in warranty; data logging devices include an 18-month carry-in warranty. Products can be purchased separately or as part of a full system.
2. Agronomy Support Subscription Services: Subscription-based agronomy support services providing technical and agronomic assistance. Standard Agronomy Support offers comprehensive support throughout the growing season with professional insights from qualified agronomists. Mini Agronomy Support provides start-up support during the first 6 weeks.
3. ACWEB Software Access: Web-based irrigation management software available via subscription. The software analyzes soil moisture data and provides detailed insights, statistics, and graphs for irrigation planning decisions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

AquaCheck designs, manufactures and sells capacitance-based soil moisture probes and cellular/manual telemetry devices, and bundles them with its proprietary ACWEB web-based irrigation management software and subscription Agronomy Support services. The integrated system provides farmers and growers with multi-depth soil moisture and temperature data, irrigation scheduling insights and fertigation monitoring for improved crop yield, quality and water/electricity savings.

Product overview

AquaCheck provides a fully integrated soil moisture monitoring and irrigation management system consisting of four main components: soil moisture probes (Sub-Surface Probe and Basic Wireless Continuous Logging Probe), connectivity devices (AquaLink S400, AquaLINK B400, Bluetooth Module, and Shuttle), ACWEB web-based software, and Agronomy Support subscription services (Standard and Mini). The probes measure soil moisture and temperature at multiple depths, data is transmitted via cellular or manual methods to ACWEB for analysis and irrigation decision-making, supported by agronomy expertise.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sub-Surface Probe Capacitance-based soil moisture and soil temperature monitoring device with up to 15 sensors per probe, featuring MODBUS, SDI-12, and RS-485 interface options. Designed for annual crops, orchards, pastures, nurseries, greenhouses, and turf applications. Carries a 5-year carry-in warranty.
• Basic Wireless Continuous Logging Probe Capacitance-based soil moisture monitoring device with up to six sensors, equipped with on-board memory and a battery pack. Uses short-range proprietary RF connectivity to upload data via the Shuttle wireless hand logger.
• AquaLink S400 Solar-powered cellular data logging device with 2G/4G or LTE-M/NB-IoT options for automatic data transmission from soil moisture probes to the ACWEB software platform.
• AquaLink B400 Battery-operated cellular data logging device with 2G/4G or LTE-M/NB-IoT options for automatic data transmission from soil moisture probes to the ACWEB software platform.
• Bluetooth Module Manual data transmission option using Bluetooth connectivity for farms with limited cellular coverage, enabling data upload from probes to the cloud via a mobile device.
• Shuttle Wireless hand-held data logger using RF connection to collect soil moisture and temperature data from probes for manual upload to the cloud when cellular coverage is unavailable.
• ACWEB Web-based online irrigation management software providing detailed soil moisture and temperature data analysis, accessible 24/7 from any device, with mobile-friendly views and dedicated Android and iOS applications.
• Standard Agronomy Support Full agronomy support subscription providing comprehensive technical and agronomic assistance throughout the growing season, including professional insights from a qualified agronomist, irrigation scheduling recommendations and eight comprehensive email reports.
• Mini Agronomy Support Start-up agronomy support providing technical assistance during the first six weeks of the growing season, including evaluation of new probe installations and ACWEB software setup.

Quantifiable outcome

• Significant savings in water and electricity consumption reported by farmers using AquaCheck systems
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Global Distributors (30+ Countries)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAquaCheck supplies products through distributors and agricultural outlets in more than 30 countries across six continents. These distributors handle regional sales and customer support for the soil moisture monitoring equipment.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Tule Technologies: Tule provides field-based irrigation analytics (including soil moisture and crop water stress) primarily to specialty crop growers. It overlaps with AquaCheck's agronomy and software offering, with a more analytics-first model.
• Semios: Semios is a precision agriculture platform that combines in-field sensors (including soil moisture), weather data, and AI-driven decision support for irrigation, pest, and crop management. It is an emerging player expanding into the same irrigation management space AquaCheck addresses.
• CropX Technologies: CropX combines soil moisture sensing with AI-driven irrigation and farm management analytics. It is an emerging, venture-backed competitor integrating hardware, satellite data, and decision-support software, and is increasingly competing with AquaCheck in the same irrigation management category.

Direct peers

• Hortau: Hortau sells soil moisture and tension-based irrigation management hardware and software, primarily serving specialty crop growers in North America. It competes with AquaCheck on integrated soil moisture monitoring + cloud platform offerings.
• AquaSpy: AquaSpy manufactures multi-depth soil moisture probes (CropSense) with cloud-based monitoring for irrigation management. It is a direct peer to AquaCheck with comparable capacitance-probe-based soil moisture monitoring products.
• Meter Group: Meter Group (formerly Decagon) manufactures TEROS soil moisture sensors and the Zentra cloud platform for irrigation and environmental monitoring. It is a direct competitor to AquaCheck, selling high-accuracy capacitance-based probes and a software platform to researchers, growers, and agribusiness customers.
• Stevens Water Monitoring Systems: Stevens manufactures soil moisture sensors, data loggers, and monitoring systems used in agriculture, turf, and environmental applications. It is a direct peer in the soil moisture sensing and irrigation monitoring category.
• Sentek Technologies: Sentek manufactures capacitance soil moisture probes (Drill & Drop, EnviroSCAN) and IrriMAX software for irrigation scheduling. It competes head-to-head with AquaCheck in multi-depth soil moisture sensing and serves a similar grower and research customer base globally.
• Irrometer Company: Irrometer is a long-established US manufacturer of soil moisture and soil water tension sensors (tensiometers) used in irrigation scheduling. It is a direct peer with a comparable product portfolio targeting commercial growers and irrigators.

Broad incumbents

• Campbell Scientific: Campbell Scientific is a broad incumbent in environmental and agricultural monitoring, offering soil moisture sensors, data loggers, and telemetry. It is a comparable supplier for irrigation and research customers though it spans a much wider portfolio than AquaCheck.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/aquacheck

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Aquacheck