The first thing you notice is the font. It’s clean, sans-serif, and printed on a small placard next to the door: ‘Free public restroom. Scan to enter.’ The second is the quiet hum, a sound you don’t associate with a portable toilet, because this isn’t one. It’s a Throne, a prefabricated, solar-powered pod with a flushing toilet, running water, and a ventilation system that cycles the air every few minutes. You scan the QR code with your phone, the door unlocks with a soft click, and inside, the lights come on. There are no buttons to push. A motion sensor knows when you stand, triggering the flush. Another knows when you move your hands under the faucet. When you leave, the unit rates its own cleanliness and schedules a cleaning if needed. The entire transaction, for the user, is frictionless. For the city of Long Beach, California, it was a four-month pilot that logged over 31,000 discrete uses [lbpost.com, retrieved 2026]. For Throne Labs, it’s a blueprint.
The subscription model for city infrastructure
Throne Labs sells public bathrooms as a service. Its customers are municipal governments and public-space operators, who pay a flat monthly fee that covers the Throne unit itself, all cleaning, maintenance, and repairs, with zero upfront capital cost [LinkedIn, retrieved 2026]. The public pays nothing. This turns a perennial infrastructure headache,permitting, plumbing, vandalism, ongoing sanitation costs,into an operational line item. The company’s wedge is being turnkey. The units are delivered by truck, require no sewer or water hookups, and can be deployed in a day on any level surface [Throne Labs, retrieved 2026]. For a city parks department or transit agency looking to quickly expand restroom access in a park, at a bus terminal, or along a revitalized waterfront, it bypasses years of capital planning.
What the sensors are really for
The technology inside each Throne,over 21 motion sensors, remote monitoring, and that self-reported cleanliness score,serves a dual purpose. The obvious one is user experience: touchless everything, from entry to exit. The subtler, more critical function is operations. The data tells Throne Labs exactly how often a unit is used, which fixtures see the most wear, and when it genuinely needs servicing. This allows for hyper-efficient, just-in-time cleaning schedules instead of fixed, potentially wasteful routes. It also generates a tangible accountability report for the city client. They aren’t just buying a bathroom; they’re buying a guarantee of cleanliness, backed by a dashboard.
The company has layered on thoughtful, policy-friendly features that resonate with modern municipal procurement:
- ADA compliance. Standard ramps, grab bars, and space for wheelchair maneuverability.
- Health equity. Options for menstrual product dispensers and sharps containers.
- Accessibility tech. A partnership with NaviLens adds scannable codes that audibly guide visually impaired users to the entrance and through its features [Throne Labs, Jun 2025].
Traction and the capital to scale
Throne Labs has moved from pilot to permanent installation across a growing network. Its first permanent unit landed in Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Riverfront in March 2023 [Throne Labs, retrieved 2026]. Deployments have since followed in California cities like Palo Alto, Redwood City, and Sunnyvale, and in Michigan locales like Ann Arbor and Detroit [berkeleyca.gov, Sep 2025]. The company claims to operate the largest network of connected public restrooms in the U.S. [BusinessWire, Oct 2025]. This expansion has been fueled by institutional capital. In October 2025, Throne Labs secured an initial $15 million Series B round led by Brentwood Associates, who cited 176% year-over-year revenue growth in 2025 [BusinessWire, Oct 2025]. Total disclosed funding stands at approximately $35.1 million [PitchBook, 2026].
| City / Region | Deployment Type | Key Metric / Note |
|---|---|---|
| Washington, D.C. | Permanent | First permanent Throne (March 2023) |
| Long Beach, CA | Pilot | 31,000+ uses in 4 months [lbpost.com, retrieved 2026] |
| Bay Area (Multiple Cities) | Permanent / Pilot | Deployments in Martinez, Palo Alto, others [berkeleyca.gov, Sep 2025] |
| Michigan (Ann Arbor, Detroit) | Permanent | Expansion into Midwest markets [mlive.com, Jun 2025] |
The founder's wedge
The company’s origin is deeply personal. Founder and CEO Fletcher Wilson was motivated by a lifelong experience with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and the acute, often desperate challenge of finding a clean, accessible public restroom [Wikipedia, 2026]. He co-founded the company in 2020 with Jessica Heinzelman, who serves as COO, and Ben Clark, leading R&D. This isn’t a team of sanitation industry veterans; it’s a group of entrepreneurs and engineers applying a software-as-a-service mindset to a physical, neglected problem. Their backgrounds in engineering and social impact shape the product’s focus on user dignity, data, and design [Throne Labs, retrieved 2026].
Where the model meets the street
The risks for Throne Labs are the classic ones of selling to government. Sales cycles are long and procurement processes are byzantine. While the subscription model eliminates capital barriers, it requires a shift in municipal budgeting from capex to recurring opex. Competition also exists, though it operates in a different lane.
- The incumbents. Companies like Johnny on the Spot and United Site Services provide vast networks of traditional portable toilets. They are lower-tech, often less aesthetically pleasing, but they are ubiquitous and understood. Throne’s bet is that cities are willing to pay a premium for a dignified, connected, and maintenance-free solution.
- The scaling challenge. Each new city requires not just a sale, but a localized operations footprint for cleaning and service. The capital raised is likely earmarked for building out this operational muscle as much as for manufacturing more units.
The company’s answer is embedded in its early results. The Long Beach pilot’s usage numbers are a powerful rebuttal to skepticism about demand. The 176% revenue growth claim suggests the sales engine is beginning to turn. The real proof will be in contract renewals and expansions within existing cities, turning pilots into multi-year, multi-unit subscriptions.
For now, the product works. You scan, you enter, you leave. The unit quietly reports on itself. The question Throne Labs is implicitly answering, one flush at a time, is not whether cities need public bathrooms. We know they do. The question is whether we’ve reached a point where a city’s duty of care,to provide clean, safe, accessible infrastructure for the basic human act of using a toilet,can be fulfilled not by a public works department, but by a startup with a dashboard.
Sources
- [Throne Labs, retrieved 2026] Throne Labs website | https://thronelabs.co/
- [LinkedIn, retrieved 2026] Throne Labs Company Page | https://www.linkedin.com/company/throne-labs
- [BusinessWire, Oct 2025] Throne Labs Secures Initial Close of $15 Million Series B | https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251021411134/en/Throne-Labs-Secures-Initial-Close-of-%2415-Million-Series-B-to-Expand-Smart-Restroom-Infrastructure-Nationwide
- [PitchBook, 2026] Throne Labs Company Profile | https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/438120-64
- [Wikipedia, 2026] Throne Labs | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throne_Labs
- [Throne Labs, Jun 2025] Smart Restrooms Get Smarter: Throne Labs & NaviLens Partner | https://thronelabs.co/blog/smart-restrooms-get-smarter-throne-labs-navilens-partner-to-champion-accessibility
- [lbpost.com, retrieved 2026] Long Beach Pilot Program Report | https://lbpost.com/
- [berkeleyca.gov, Sep 2025] Bay Area Deployments | https://berkeleyca.gov
- [mlive.com, Jun 2025] Michigan Deployments | https://mlive.com