First investment completed

Our fund’s inaugural investment went to TDRI, a New Zealand–based innovator transforming road maintenance and construction with real-time, non-invasive moisture detection. Their advanced trailer-mounted system, built on Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR), scans entire pavement networks at up to 20 readings per second—delivering planar and linear moisture maps, portal access, and data export that feed into existing asset management workflows.

What is Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR)?

TDR is a measurement technique that sends an electrical pulse along a probe inserted into a material and analyzes how the signal reflects back. In road engineering, TDR is used to accurately measure moisture content within pavement layers, subgrades, and surrounding soils. Excess moisture can weaken roadbeds, reduce load-bearing capacity, and accelerate cracking, rutting, and failure—especially under freeze-thaw or heavy traffic conditions. By providing continuous or on-demand moisture data, TDR enables proactive maintenance, helps identify drainage issues early, and supports long-term asset management for highways, railbeds, and other linear infrastructure.

Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR):

The core technology. It works by sending an electrical pulse down a probe or cable and analyzing the reflections to determine properties like moisture content, density, or structural changes in soil or materials. Traditionally, TDR gives you point-based measurements (at the location of the probe).

Time Domain Reflectometry Imaging (TDRi):

This is essentially the next step—it expands from point measurements to spatial mapping or 3D visualization. By using arrays of TDR probes, advanced signal processing, and imaging algorithms, TDRi can create pictures or models of subsurface water distribution, movement, or structural weakness.

What makes TDRi unique:

• Instead of just telling you “there’s too much water here,” TDRi shows you where and how water is moving across a slope, embankment, or roadbed.

• It transforms TDR from a monitoring tool into a diagnostic and predictive imaging system—very useful for climate adaptation where water-related risks (landslides, washouts, sinkholes) need both early detection and spatial context.

In other words, TDR = measurement, TDRi = visualization.

TDRI's Gen 1 offering above, but this video below shows TDRI's Gen 2 offering, launched in 2025.

What does this have to do with water?

This is all about the too much water problem faced by owners and operators of road assets. When excess moisture seeps into pavement layers and underlying soils, it compromises structural integrity, reduces load-bearing capacity, and accelerates deterioration. Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) provides a precise, real-time way to monitor this moisture, allowing asset managers to detect drainage failures, identify vulnerable sections before they fail, and take preventative action. In short, it’s a technology solution aimed squarely at managing a critical water risk in road infrastructure.

And the value to owners/operators of roads?

By providing moisture insights at scale and speed, the system empowers stakeholders to move from reactive fixes to predictive and preventive interventions—making road infrastructure more resilient in the face of climate-induced water risks.

Where does TDRI operate?

TDRI sits at the intersection of Industry 4.0, water risk, and Climate Action (SDG13). In the context of Industry 4.0, TDRI’s technology sits squarely within the modern infrastructure toolkit. Its seamless blend of high-speed sensors, real-time analytics, and digital delivery aligns with the sector’s shift toward smart, data-driven asset management.

Roads are on the front lines of water risk in our new climate. Heavy precipitation events—now more frequent and intense—are overwhelming drainage systems, causing more frequent and severe road flooding. Prolonged saturation weakens subgrades, leading to premature pavement failure. At the same time, temperature extremes create additional stress: heat waves soften asphalt, while sudden freezes after warm, wet spells trigger damaging freeze–thaw cycles that buckle surfaces and fracture aggregates. Other water-related risks that were once rare are becoming more common, including landslides from saturated slopes, debris flows blocking key corridors, and erosion undermining road embankments and bridge approaches. Together, these threats turn roads from passive infrastructure into active climate front lines, where water is no longer just an engineering challenge—it’s a safety, cost, and resilience crisis.

TDRI Solutions delivers an innovative, non-invasive moisture-sensing trailer system that empowers infrastructure managers—particularly those responsible for linear assets like road networks—to proactively manage water risk and extend pavement life. Using advanced Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR), TDRI’s technology gathers high-speed, subsurface moisture data (5–20 samples per second, down to 250 mm depth) across entire road networks or specific segments. The real-world benefit is clear: agencies can transition from reactive maintenance to risk-based intervention, reducing rework and lowering costs—ultimately making roads last up to 2.5× longer while slashing maintenance expenses by 12–30%. More here. https://www.tdrisolutions.com/

Mazarine Climate is very bullish on early-stage companies with technology innovation that help owners/operators of roads, and their consultants, manage water risk in our new climate reality.