Stanford Startup mOasis Wins $75K for Water Tech Innovation

Stanford student-founded start-up mOasis has won $50,000 in seed capital from a Stanford University competition for its technology that allows plants to boost their water retention and grow more efficiently.

The contest, sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Student Entrepreneurship Society, awarded funding from North Bridge Venture Partners.

The start-up will also receive $25,000 of in-kind-development support, six months of incubation space at North Bridge’s San Mateo office, and mentorship from the North Bridge investment team. 

“We’re focused on a huge problem—one that impacts just about every person on the planet,” said Yohei Iwasaki, CEO and founder of mOasis, and a Stanford-MBA student in earth sciences.

Iwasaki and his team developed a new technology that allows soil to better retain water and enables plants to grow more efficiently, announced a North Bridge press release. As a result, mOasis’ technology will help land maintain the ability to sustain plant life, stated the release.

Judges selected Iwasaki’s mOasis from a group of five finalists based on the quality of the start-up’s founding team, its potential for industry disruption and its large addressable market size.

“Our technology has the potential to eliminate critical shortages in food and water so that people in any part of the world can live with them in abundance,” Iwasaki said. “Our collaboration with North Bridge will certainly enhance our ability to make that vision a reality.”

“The quality, range and depth of the teams and their submissions were outstanding,” said Cali Tran, principal at the firm’s San Mateo office. “Many, like mOasis, are tackling big issues in our society and economy.  We look forward to expanding the reach of the program next year to provide a bigger stage for more of the groundbreaking business and technology ideas being developed here.”

North Bridge Venture Partners is a seed- and early-stage venture capital firm with offices in San Mateo and Boston, MA.