ClearlySo
ClearlySo was a London-based impact investment bank that, from 2008 until it entered administration in late 2021, raised capital for purpose-driven companies and funds rather than investing its own money. Water was a footnote in its work: as of 2026 it has a single water-linked company on record, the vertical-farming startup LettUs Grow, across two seed rounds.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
ClearlySo billed itself as Europe's first dedicated impact investment bank, and for over a decade that is roughly what it was. Founded in London in 2008 by Wall Street analyst turned impact pioneer Rodney Schwartz, it raised money for social enterprises, charities and impact funds and ran one of the UK's earliest angel networks for ethical deals. Crucially it did not invest its own capital: it stood between purpose-driven companies and the investors who wanted them, and over its life it says it helped clients raise more than 450 million pounds.
ClearlySo never had a water thesis, and this page should say so plainly. Its work spanned health, education, housing and the wider social economy, and water surfaced only where it overlapped with that mission. The single water-linked company in the Leviathan database is LettUs Grow, the Bristol aeroponics startup whose vertical farms mist plant roots instead of flooding them, using a fraction of the water that conventional growing needs. ClearlySo helped it raise seed money across two rounds, alongside Bethnal Green Ventures and the University of Bristol Enterprise Fund.
ClearlySo stopped trading at the end of 2021, entering administration owing more than 10 million pounds to creditors and shareholders. Founder Rod Schwartz, who had stepped back as chief executive in March 2020, argued the firm was a casualty of its own cause, made redundant as impact investing went mainstream and big institutions began doing in-house what a niche bank once did for them. For a newcomer, ClearlySo reads as a marker rather than a manager: a reminder that some of the names a water founder meets are advisers and matchmakers who place other people's money, and that this particular one closed its doors years ago.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 1 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What was ClearlySo?
- ClearlySo was a London-based impact investment bank, founded in 2008 by Rodney Schwartz. It raised capital for social enterprises, charities and impact funds and ran an early UK angel network for ethical deals, working only with organisations that paired financial return with social or environmental impact. It entered administration at the end of 2021.
- Is ClearlySo still operating?
- ClearlySo is no longer operating. The firm entered administration at the end of 2021, owing more than 10 million pounds to creditors and shareholders, and ceased trading. Founder Rod Schwartz, who had stepped down as chief executive in March 2020, suggested the niche for a dedicated impact bank faded as impact investing went mainstream.
- Did ClearlySo invest in water?
- ClearlySo had no water thesis; water was incidental to its social-impact work. In the Leviathan database it is linked to a single water company, the aeroponic vertical-farming startup LettUs Grow, across two seed rounds, with its last recorded deal in early 2020. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment One-Off.
- Who founded and ran ClearlySo?
- ClearlySo was founded in 2008 by Rodney Schwartz, a former Wall Street financial-services analyst at PaineWebber and Lehman Brothers who became an impact-investing pioneer and teaches the subject at Oxford's Said Business School. He served as chief executive until March 2020. Lindsay Smart led its impact-assessment work, building the ClearlySo ATLAS tool.
- Is ClearlySo the same as Clearly Acquired?
- No. ClearlySo was a UK impact investment bank that closed in 2021. Clearly Acquired is an unrelated US platform, launched in 2024, that provides tools and services for buying and selling businesses. The similar names are a coincidence; the two firms share no ownership, focus or history.