America’s got 8 public toilets for every 100K people. Tied with Botswana. In a country obsessed with innovation, that stat hits harder than bad coffee before a long drive. Throne Labs saw that number and didn’t just cringe, they went to work. Founded in 2020 and based in Brentwood, MD, this smart infrastructure startup is tackling America’s public restroom crisis with precision engineering and quiet swagger. These aren’t porta-potties, they’re Thrones. Self-contained, solar-powered, sensor-stacked sanctuaries that install in hours, not years, and run cleaner than most coffee shops.
CEO & Co-Founder Fletcher Wilson came up with the idea during walks in Berkeley’s Cesar Chavez Park, managing a GI condition while realizing public restrooms were basically extinct. He teamed up with Co-Founder & VP of R&D Ben Clark, a mechanical mastermind with 70+ patents, and Co-Founder & COO Jessica Heinzelman, a strategist who turns social impact into scale. Add VP of Product Shyanne Telfer, a logistics ace with a Cranfield MSc, and you’ve got a team that treats public sanitation like a product launch, not a government delay.
Throne Labs just locked in $15M in Series B funding led by Brentwood Associates, with Uncorrelated Ventures, Dipalo Ventures, Rabil Ventures & Arpinine Management in the mix. That puts total funding past $23M. The growth story speaks for itself, expanding from 4 regions to 20+ cities, including D.C., L.A., the Bay Area & Michigan. They’ve logged 125K+ uses in Michigan alone, 63K+ in D.C., and boast 90%+ user approval with zero municipal churn. Cities don’t leave when your restrooms actually work.
Partnerships with LA Metro, AC Transit, Caltrain & Orange County Transportation Authority prove this isn’t a pilot, it’s a movement. Their 64-unit, $22M contract with LA Metro ahead of the 2028 Olympics cements Throne Labs as the go-to name in public infrastructure innovation. Brentwood’s Eric Reiter called the team’s vision “bold and actionable,” and he nailed it. Each Throne unit runs off-grid, ADA-compliant, equipped with touchless sinks, porcelain toilets, A/C, baby changing stations, free menstrual products & real-time monitoring via 21+ sensors. It’s public sanitation reimagined, hygiene meets hardware.
The takeaway? Innovation doesn’t always come wrapped in AI or Web3. Sometimes it’s porcelain and solar panels, engineered by people who get what cities actually need. Fletcher Wilson and team didn’t just build bathrooms, they built dignity, data, and a new standard for how tech can serve everyone, everywhere.
