Aquanty Inc., a Waterloo-based water-modelling company co-founded by Distinguished Professor Emeritus Peter Forsyth, has been acquired by Rocscience, a Toronto company specializing in 2- and 3-D modelling software for civil, mining and geotechnical engineers.
Founded in 2012 by Professors Forsyth and Ed Sudicky of Waterloo’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, along with Professor René Therrien of Université Laval, Aquanty grew out of years of collaborative research on surface and subsurface water modelling. Professor Forsyth, who served as director of Aquanty from 2012 to 2025, contributed expertise in algorithms to solve partial differential equations and large sparse matrices, mathematical tools that power Aquanty’s water modelling.
Peter Forsyth is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the Cheriton School of Computer Science. After completing a PhD in 1979, he worked as a senior simulation scientist at the Computer Modelling Group in Calgary, where he developed petroleum reservoir analytics. He later became the founding president of Dynamic Reservoir Systems, a software start-up specializing in reservoir simulation. In 1987, he joined Waterloo as an Associate Professor of Computer Science until his retirement in 2016.
“It is great to see a Waterloo spin-off being acquired by another Canadian company,” Distinguished Professor Emeritus Forsyth said. “All too often, technology from Canadian companies moves south, along with the R&D jobs. Aquanty’s research and software development remains in Waterloo.”
Aquanty is known for its scientific expertise in hydrogeology, contaminant transport, soil physics, climate modelling and applied mathematics. Its flagship product, HydroGeoSphere, is a hydrologic simulation engine used by water-resources engineers to model the terrestrial water cycle. The software uses a physics-based numerical approach to track how water moves among surface water, soil moisture and groundwater systems.
Best Startup Canada named Aquanty in 2021 one of Waterloo’s “top 11 big data startups and companies,” citing its innovation, growth, management and societal impact.
Rocscience’s acquisition of Aquanty expands its portfolio of software and strengthens the company to offer comprehensive tools for water-resource management and climate-risk assessment.
“We are thrilled to welcome Aquanty to the Rocscience family,” said Dr. Thamer Yacoub, CEO and President of Rocscience. “This acquisition empowers us to expand our impact by offering industry-leading hydrologic modelling and AI-powered water resource analytics to our global customer base.”
Aquanty’s work has had far-reaching impact. One notable example is Canada1Water, an ambitious initiative to develop a continent-scale hydrologic model spanning all of Canada, including the Far North. The project provides policymakers and the public with tools to understand how climate change and land-use decisions affect Canada’s water resources.
“The association with Rocscience marks a new chapter for Aquanty, allowing us to leverage a wider platform and customer reach,” said Dr. Steven Berg, CEO and President of Aquanty. “Together, we will accelerate the innovation of advanced, hydrologic modelling tools that help clients better understand and adapt to complex water cycle dynamics and climate impacts worldwide.”