Montana Startups to Watch 2025 – Remsight
Since 2017, the Montana High Tech Business Alliance has highlighted over 100 innovative businesses through its annual Montana Tech Companies to Watch lists. In 2025, we’re introducing monthly installments of Montana Startups to Watch 2025 to spotlight early-stage high-tech and manufacturing companies with potential to grow, create jobs in Montana, and impact the state’s economy.
Remsight co-founder Jon Johnson prototyping the product in the Bitterroot Valley. Remsight provides an irrigation intelligence platform that captures real-time data to help ranchers and water managers make efficient and informed decisions about strategic water resource allocation.
April 30, 2025
By Melissa Paulsen
Location: Victor, Montana
What They Do: Remsight provides an irrigation intelligence platform that captures real-time data to help ranchers and water managers make efficient and informed decisions about strategic water resource allocation.
Why We’re Watching Them: Remsight equips Montana farmers and ranchers with innovative tools to analyze water data and improve water management. Their technology makes the process more efficient, cost-effective, and less labor-intensive.
Using advanced sensors and mapping software, Remsight delivers real-time insight into land and water infrastructure. Their high-tech sensors and interface can show users how to optimize their water allocation while forecasting how weather and environmental factors could impact their crop yield.
Remsight’s Foundation
Photo 1: Jon Johnson and Stephen McLaughlin, co-founders of Remsight, inside the company’s office. Photo 2: Remsight's deployed product. Remsight equips Montana farmers and ranchers with innovative tools to analyze water data and improve water management.
The inspiration behind Remsight came from co-founder Stephen McLaughlin’s first-hand frustration with the time-consuming process of flood irrigating his small cattle ranch in Victor, Montana. He partnered with co-founder Jon Johnson, who developed a prototype to remotely track water metrics and schedule water delivery to specific areas on McLaughlin’s property. The two met while working for Skyfish, a drone platform manufacturer of both hardware and software based in Stevensville, Montana.
Building on strong early interest, McLaughlin and Johnson launched Remsight in June 2024. Their goal was to bootstrap a company that could solve real problems for Montana’s agricultural communities while also addressing broader global challenges in precision agriculture.
“When we built this system, it was for the purpose of managing and analyzing irrigation water that runs out of the mountains,” Johnson said. “Now we can be a bridge to help the user better understand their fair water allocation and how they can take advantage of that.”
Johnson spent much of his youth maintaining aircraft and farm equipment before taking a position as a mechanical draftsman. With a combined background in construction, aviation, and electronics, Johnson focuses on solving local challenges in the rural communities he deeply values.
McLaughlin, a fourth-generation military veteran, deployed with the Navy SEALs in Iraq, where he oversaw drone intelligence operations. In 2024, McLaughlin began pursuing his MBA with certificates in Entrepreneurship and GIS at the University of Montana.
Pitch Competition Success
Remsight has already made waves in Montana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. The company won first place in the University of Montana College of Business’s John Ruffatto Startup Challenge and placed first in the traditional venture category of the Montana State University Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship’s $100K Venture Capital Competition.
From left to right: Jon Johnson and Stephen McLaughlin, co-founders of Remsight, with Chris Ruff, alumnus of the University of Montana College of Business, during the 36th annual John Ruffatto Startup Challenge in Missoula on April 4, 2025. Remsight took home first place and received $15K in prize money.
McLaughlin credited the UM John Ruffatto Startup Challenge as a huge stepping-stone for Remsight. “[The Ruffatto Challenge] helped us better understand not just how to talk about what we do, but also the full potential of the value we can deliver,” he said. “We've also made connections with mentors and judges, and that's invaluable at this stage.”
Looking Ahead
Remsight is expanding its portfolio of intellectual property, including a patent-pending device that enables users to remotely schedule and manage flood irrigation. The company is also pursuing certification as a Service-disabled Veteran-owned Small Business (SDVOSB), which could open doors to federal contracting opportunities.
Following a successful pilot with the Daly Ditches Irrigation District in Ravalli County, Remsight plans to scale manufacturing to serve six additional Montana counties as well as parts of Idaho and Wyoming.
By year’s end, Remsight anticipates hiring a software developer, an electrical engineer with firmware experience, and two assembly technicians. McLaughlin and Johnson said they’re looking for local candidates with cross-disciplinary skills, including full-stack web development.
“Remsight’s three core values are integrity, stewardship, and excellence; those mimic the core values of any rancher out there,” McLaughlin said. “John and I wanted to serve a customer that we had a deep respect for, so our goal is to equip ranch operations of all sizes with tools that enable them to sustain healthy, profitable businesses through informed decisions and innovative practices.”
About the Publisher: Launched in 2014, the Montana High Tech Business Alliance is a nonpartisan nonprofit association of more than 200 high tech and manufacturing companies and affiliates creating high-paying jobs in Montana. For more information, visit MTHighTech.org or subscribe to our biweekly newsletter.
About the Author: Melissa Paulsen is the communications coordinator for the Montana High Tech Business Alliance and Montana Jobs Network. She graduated from the University of Montana in 2022 with a BFA in creative writing and a minor in history.
