Flo Technologies

Flo Technologies was established in 2015 by the father-son team of Henry and Gabriel Halimi, operating within the smart home and property technology sectors. The company's genesis stems from Henry Halimi's extensive experience as an inventor and expert witness in the plumbing industry, combined with the family's personal, costly encounter with catastrophic water damage. This experience prompted Henry to spend nearly a decade developing the core technology. His son, Gabriel, a lawyer at the time, recognized the immense market opportunity for a connected device that could prevent such disasters and left his job to co-found the company and serve as its CEO.

The firm's core offering is the Flo by Moen Smart Water Monitor and Shutoff, a device installed on a home's main water supply line. It provides comprehensive water monitoring and leak protection by analyzing pressure, flow rate, and temperature. The system employs machine learning, branded as FloSense™ technology, to learn a household's unique water usage patterns over an initial period, enabling it to distinguish normal use from potential leaks. Its MicroLeak™ feature conducts daily health tests capable of detecting minuscule drips, down to a single drop per minute, which can signal underlying plumbing vulnerabilities. When a significant leak is detected, the system can automatically shut off the main water valve to prevent extensive damage. Homeowners interact with the system via a smartphone app, which provides real-time data, historical usage trends, conservation goal setting, and remote control over the water supply.

The business model centers on the sale of this hardware to homeowners. A pivotal moment in the company's trajectory was its strategic partnership with Moen, a major water fixture manufacturer. The collaboration began after the two companies met at CES in 2018, leading to a Series B investment from Moen's parent company, Fortune Brands Home & Security, in 2019 and culminating in Moen acquiring a majority stake in Flo Technologies in July 2020. This acquisition integrated Flo's technology into Moen's broader smart home ecosystem, accelerating its market penetration and aligning it with Moen's sustainability goal of saving one trillion gallons of water by 2030.

Keywords: water monitoring, leak detection, smart home, property technology, automatic water shutoff, water conservation, IoT, plumbing technology, home insurance tech, water management