Carmel-based SePro acquires California-based AI startup

Carmel-based water management company SePro Corp. is acquiring Arietta.ai, a California-based artificial intelligence startup, SePro announced this week.

The deal’s official closing date will be on Monday. SePro declined to share financial terms.

SePro offers water-quality analysis services and chemicals that address problems such as algae blooms and invasive weeds in surface water sources ranging from backyard ponds to large lakes and reservoirs.

The company’s customers, located across the U.S., include individual homeowners; private companies such as environmental engineering firms and lake-management companies; and local, state and federal government entities.

Arietta, which launched in 2023, offers an AI-driven platform that helps customers glean insights from large volumes of data.

The acquisition offers a way for SePro to begin incorporating AI into its operations, said CEO Tyler Koschick. “This is our first step, and we have a lot of innovation product concepts in mind [for the future].”

Arietta’s California office will also become the hub for SePro’s newly established digital division.

Bringing AI capabilities into its toolbox means SePro will be able to more quickly analyze real-time water quality data as well as information from other sources such as satellite imagery and from SePro’s own laboratory.

“We want to provide our customers faster insights about what that data means,” Koschick said.

SePro has been in growth mode in recent years, more than doubling its workforce since 2019, when it had 73 employees.

In April, SePro acquired Maryland-based Green Eyes LLC, which specializes in real-time water monitoring solutions.

Pre-acquisition, SePro’s workforce includes 153 employees. Koschick said about a quarter of that workforce is based in the Indianapolis area, and another third work at one of the company’s two North Carolina sites northeast of Raleigh—a 410-acre research campus in Whitakers, and a manufacturing and distribution site in nearby Rocky Mount. The remaining employees work remotely from various locations.

The Arietta acquisition adds another six employees.

Koschick said the company aims to keep expanding over the next several years. “There’s a lot of impaired waters [across the U.S.] and significant opportunity for growth.”

Denver-based Excellere Partners invested in SePro in 2019. Last year, Excellere exited SePro and two new firms invested in the company. United Kingdom-based Stanley Capital Partners made a majority investment, and New York City-based Goldman Sachs Alternatives came in as a minority co-investor.