Oso Technologies was founded in 2011 by five University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign engineering graduate students. CEO Eduardo Torrealba’s wife, who was having trouble keeping a basil plant alive due to improper watering, inspired the idea for their first product. The team built a prototype and moved into the EnterpriseWorks incubator in 2012.
In 2012, they received seed funding from Illinois Ventures and capital from angel investors. After a yearlong Kickstarter campaign that raised $100,000, Oso Technologies was able to hire more employees.
Oso Technologies developed a wireless, Internet-connected soil moisture monitoring system called PlantLink. The system uses low-power sensing and cloud computing to monitor soil moisture levels and alert the user if plants get too little or too much water.
EnterpriseWorks Tenure: 2012-2013
News & Milestones
- 2013 Innovation Celebration Student Startup Award
- Oso Technologies Wins the 2013 Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize
- Oso Technologies Featured in Crain’s as a “Next Big Thing”
- EnterpriseWorks Graduate Acquired by Scotts Miracle-Gro
Oso Technologies Now
Oso Technologies operated in Urbana, Illinois until 2016 when Scott’s Miracle-Gro acquired PlantLink.