Reservoir

Reservoir is a home electrification company building what it describes as a predictive water heater. The system is a heat-pump water heater paired with software that learns a household's hot water usage patterns during roughly its first month in a home, then heats water at the most efficient and lowest-cost times rather than on a fixed schedule. Because hot water is stored in the tank, the unit functions as a grid-connected thermal battery, shifting electricity draw toward off-peak periods. The company states the heat pump is roughly four times more efficient than a conventional electric water heater and five times more efficient than a natural gas unit, and that water heating accounts for about 18% of household energy use.

Beyond heating, the device includes edge sensing intended to protect the home: an ultrasonic flow sensor detects plumbing leaks elsewhere in the house and alerts homeowners through a mobile app, and continuous monitoring is used to flag frozen pipes, fumes, bacterial growth and small structural leaks. Two configurations are sold: a base "Core" model and a "Max" model that adds a recirculation valve for instant hot water, a mixing valve to help prevent pipe freezing, and a "party mode" in which a 50-gallon tank can deliver up to 150 gallons of hot water. Settings are controlled from a touchscreen on the unit or via the app, and the company offers a 10-year warranty.

Reservoir is vertically integrated, designing and manufacturing its own hardware and operating its own plumbing crew to perform installations, an approach the CEO attributes to prior experience where distributors were slow to adopt new technology. The company also positions its fleet as a future participant in utility demand-response programs, aggregating capacity across installed units, with the resulting payments potentially used to reduce customer prices.

Founding story

Reservoir was co-founded by Luke Winston-Almanzar, previously chief business officer at 3D-printing company Formlabs, together with Gabriel Parisi-Amon and Jake Felser. Winston-Almanzar has said the idea came from frustration with conventional water heaters, which he described as lacking intelligence and consuming more energy in his own home than charging his electric car.

Business model

Reservoir sells its water heaters to homeowners as a fully installed package at a fixed price, using its own in-house plumbing crew rather than third-party distributors or contractors. Pricing is $5,000 for the Core model and $6,500 for the Max model with installation included; Massachusetts customers qualify for a $1,050 rebate, bringing the Core model to $3,950. The company has also received a MassCEC grant. It anticipates future revenue from aggregating installed units to participate in utility demand-response programs.

One-time hardware-plus-installation sales at published fixed prices, with rebates applied to quotes where available, and potential future revenue from utility demand-response participation across the installed fleet.

Traction

About 100 devices installed as of August 2026, with a stated goal of roughly 1,000 installed by the end of the following year, which the CEO characterized as approaching megawatt-scale capacity. The company says it has demonstrated the ability to relieve grid strain at the neighborhood level, and claims annual homeowner savings of up to $800-$1,000 versus other tank water heaters.

Latest developments

In August 2026 Reservoir announced an $8 million seed round led by Asymmetric Capital Partners with participation from MCJ Collective and existing pre-seed backer Founder Collective, to be used to scale residential installations across the Boston metro area, enter new domestic metropolitan markets, train installation apprentices, and further develop its predictive grid-balancing energy software.