Producer
Badger Meter Inc.
US manufacturer of flow measurement and control technologies; primary product is ORION AMI water meters for utility billing; also produces BEACON cloud-based data analytics for water utilities; beneficiary of federal water infrastructure investment; ~$700M revenue but commands premium valuations due to AMI software/data recurring revenue model.
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Stories
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Business segments
The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Municipal Water Metering (ORION AMI)
70%BEACON Cloud Analytics Platform
15%Industrial Flow Measurement
15%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2024
Badger Meter has been making water meters in Milwaukee since 1905 — and is now valued like a software company because its BEACON cloud platform converts meter readings into utility analytics subscription revenue Badger Meter Inc. was founded in 1905 in Milwaukee to manufacture brass water meters for residential utilities. A century later, its core product line (ORION AMI meters) still measures water flow — but the business model has transformed. Badger's BEACON cloud software platform processes AMI data into real-time leak alerts, consumption analytics, pressure monitoring, and customer billing integrations for utility customers. As of 2023, Badger traded at approximately 40-50× earnings — far above the 15-20× typical for industrial manufacturers — reflecting the market's view of BEACON's recurring software revenue as the primary value driver. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) water funding is accelerating AMI adoption as utilities seek to reduce non-revenue water (typically 15-25% of all treated water lost to leaks).
Badger Meter Inc. ↗Origin2023
Badger Meter was founded in 1905 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as one of the early manufacturers of mechanical water meters for growing US municipal systems. For most of its 100-year history it was a low-margin industrial manufacturer of commodity water meters competing on price. The strategic transformation came in the 2000s-2010s when Badger developed its ORION Automated Meter Infrastructure (AMI) technology, which transmits meter readings wirelessly without manual reads. It then layered a cloud analytics platform (BEACON) on top, charging water utilities for data analytics services beyond the hardware. This hardware-plus-recurring-SaaS model transformed Badger from a ~10x earnings manufacturer into a ~40-60x earnings technology company on the same revenue base -- one of the clearest examples of industrial hardware being repriced as software/data infrastructure. Badger trades at software-company multiples because utilities are locked into the BEACON analytics platform once they install ORION meters at scale.
Badger Meter Inc. ↗