Fire Nozzle Inventor Builds AI Data Empire from Wildfire Roots

Sunny Sethi started HEN Technologies in Hayward, California, in June 2020 after his wife challenged him to solve the wildfire threat during a 2019 evacuation scare. What began as a push to build better fire nozzles has grown into a $22 million funded company that collects real-world data from fires to train AI systems. The latest funding, announced last week, comes as wildfires keep burning bigger across the U.S. West and investors see value in data from emergency scenes.

Background

Sethi earned his PhD from the University of Akron, where he studied surfaces and adhesion. He went on to found ADAP Nanotech, which worked on carbon nanotube tech and got grants from the Air Force Research Lab. Later, he helped develop materials for solar panels at SunPower and adhesives for car parts at TE Connectivity.

In 2013, Sethi and his family moved from Ohio to California's East Bay area. Fires soon hit close to home. The Thomas Fire in 2017 was bad, but then came the Camp Fire and Napa-Sonoma blazes. The tipping point was in 2019. Sethi was away on a trip when evacuation warnings came. His wife, home with their three-year-old daughter and no family nearby, called him.

"Dude, you need to fix this, otherwise you're not a real scientist." – Sunny Sethi recalling his wife's words

That push led Sethi to start HEN Technologies, named for high-efficiency nozzles. He got funding from the National Science Foundation and dug into how water puts out fire. He used computational fluid dynamics to study water droplets, speed, and how wind messes up streams from old nozzles.

By 2020, HEN had its first nozzle. Tests showed it put out fires up to three times faster than standard ones and used 67% less water. The design controls droplet size just right, keeps water speed steady, and fights wind scatter. Side-by-side videos from trials show HEN streams holding tight while others break apart at the same water flow.

Key Details

HEN did not stop at nozzles. The company now makes monitors, valves, sprinklers, and pressure tools. This year brings Stream IQ, a flow-control device, and new discharge systems. Each piece has built-in sensors and circuit boards – 23 designs in all. Some run on Nvidia Orion Nano processors. HEN has filed 20 patent applications, with six approved so far.

Smart Gear and Cloud System

All the hardware connects to a cloud platform. It pulls in weather data and GPS from every device. Firefighters get alerts if wind shifts and they need to move trucks, or if a rig is low on water. Captains, chiefs, and commanders use tailored views. Sethi compares it to Adobe's shift to cloud tools – simple systems that fit each user's needs.

The real prize is data. Every nozzle reaction, water flow, and fire behavior feeds a platform. This creates what's called a physics data goldmine. AI needs real-world physics to learn, and fires give messy, high-stakes examples. HEN's setup uses Physics-Informed Neural Networks, or PINNs, to make sense of it. The company calls this the first operating system for fire defense.

Selling to fire departments is tricky. End users like firefighters pick gear, but buys go through slow government processes. HEN cracked both. It supplies the U.S. Marine Corps, Army bases, Naval labs, NASA, Abu Dhabi Civil Defense, and ships to 22 countries. Over 120 distributors carry its products. After a year of checks, HEN got GSA approval, easing sales to U.S. agencies.

The team has 50 people. Software lead came from Adobe's cloud group. Others worked at NASA, Tesla, Apple, and Microsoft. Sethi handles big picture while experts run tech details.

What This Means

The $22 million raise lets HEN scale fast. Demand outpaces supply, Sethi says. More data means better AI for predicting fire spread, optimizing water use, and keeping crews safe. Fire departments could cut waste and respond quicker as gear gets smarter.

Beyond fires, the data helps AI grasp physics in tough spots. Machines learning from real nozzles, wind, and flames could apply to other fields like weather models or factory flows. Investors bet on this cross-over.

Fire seasons grow longer with climate shifts. States like California face bigger burns each year. Tools like HEN's could shift how crews fight back. Nozzles that save water matter when supplies run low. Alerts that spot wind changes save lives.

HEN keeps expanding products. The Hen Titan nozzle boosts reach with blade tech for safer streams. Force nozzles work at low pressure for easier hose handling. Each adds data points to the platform.

Challenges remain. Government buys take time. Training crews on new tech needs work. But HEN's sales track record shows it can deliver. As AI grows hungry for real data, companies like this one turn crisis response into tech frontiers.