Transition Global
Transition is a London-based climate and deep-tech venture firm backing founders at the intersection of AI and the physical world. It invests from pre-seed to Series A, and its water bet is Waterplan, a water-risk platform it seeded. As of May 2026, Transition closed a €128 million Fund II, taking assets under management to about €300 million.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Transition is the climate-and-deep-tech fund the Unity co-founder David Helgason built after he stopped making game engines and started backing the physical world. As of May 2026 it closed a €128 million Fund II and now runs about €300 million, a serious second act for a firm that opened in 2021 on a single, unfashionable rule: only back companies that push at least one of the planet's nine boundaries back toward safety.
Transition is not a water fund, and this page should say so plainly. Freshwater is one of those nine planetary boundaries, and water shows up here as one expression of a much broader climate thesis. That expression is Waterplan, a platform that helps large companies measure and report their water risk from satellite imagery and hydrological data. Transition backed it at seed and again at its Series A, which is why the directory shows one water company across two rounds.
Transition runs on a small, senior bench: brothers David and Ari Helgason alongside founding partner Kristian Branaes, formerly of Atomico, and Clara Ricard, who came from Balderton Capital. For a newcomer weighing whether this is a water investor, the honest read is that Transition is a climate generalist that will write the occasional water cheque when the company is software-first and the market is global. Waterplan is the proof it will.
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 does Transition Ventures invest in?
- Transition Ventures backs early-stage climate and deep-tech founders working at the intersection of AI and the physical world, from pre-seed to Series A. Its themes span energy for AI, robotics, critical minerals, and climate resilience. In water, its bet is Waterplan, a water-risk analytics platform.
- Who runs Transition Ventures?
- Transition Ventures was co-founded in 2021 by Unity co-founder David Helgason and his brother Ari Helgason, alongside founding partner Kristian Branaes, formerly of Atomico. Clara Ricard, who joined from Balderton Capital, rounds out the core investment team. The firm is based in London.
- How big is Transition Ventures' fund?
- Transition Ventures closed its second fund at €128 million (about $150 million) in May 2026, taking total assets under management to roughly €300 million. It writes cheques from pre-seed through Series A across Europe and the United States.
- Is Transition Ventures a water fund?
- Transition Ventures is a climate and deep-tech fund, not a water-only investor. Freshwater is one of the nine planetary boundaries it screens against, and its water exposure is the company Waterplan. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment One-Off, reflecting that single water holding.