Peter Carlsson
Peter Carlsson is a Swedish angel investor, the former Tesla supply-chain chief and co-founder of battery maker Northvolt. He backs hardware-heavy cleantech with his own money, and two of those bets are water companies: water-recycling shower maker Orbital Systems and countertop-filtration startup Rocean. As of 2026 he has joined two water deals since 2016.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Peter Carlsson is not a water investor in any pure sense. He is the supply-chain operator who built Tesla's purchasing machine, then co-founded Northvolt to put a lithium-ion gigafactory on European soil, and he invests his own money the way he built factories: in hardware that has to work at scale. Two of those bets land squarely in water.
Peter Carlsson's water exposure is consumer hardware that closes a loop. Orbital Systems, out of Malmo, builds a recycling shower that filters and re-pumps the same water in real time, saving the better part of every drop and most of the heat; Rocean swaps bottled water for a countertop dispenser and a carbon-block filter. Both are point-of-use devices, not pipes and pumps in the ground, and both fit a thesis about resource efficiency you can hold in your hand.
Peter Carlsson is in a new chapter now. Northvolt filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2024 and he stepped down as chief executive the next day, closing the chapter he is best known for. As of 2026 he is building again, co-founding the manufacturing-AI startup Aris Machina, and he channels his angel cheques through Ekenas Venture, the vehicle he runs with his wife. For water that makes him an occasional, well-connected backer rather than a dedicated fund: the operator who turns up when a hardware team needs someone who has tried to scale the unscalable.
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 · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- Who is Peter Carlsson?
- Peter Carlsson is a Swedish entrepreneur and angel investor, best known as the former Tesla supply-chain chief who co-founded battery maker Northvolt in 2016. He resigned as Northvolt's CEO in November 2024 and now backs hardware-focused cleantech startups, including two water companies, largely with his own money.
- What does Peter Carlsson invest in?
- Peter Carlsson invests in hardware-intensive cleantech: electrified transport, manufacturing, and resource-efficiency devices. Within water he has backed two companies, the recycling-shower maker Orbital Systems and the countertop water-filtration startup Rocean. His bets favour consumer hardware that saves water or energy at the point of use, not heavy infrastructure.
- What water companies has Peter Carlsson backed?
- Peter Carlsson has backed two water companies tracked by (don't) Waste Water: Orbital Systems, the Malmo maker of a closed-loop recycling shower, and Rocean, a countertop water dispenser with a carbon-block filter. Both are consumer water-hardware bets; as of 2026 his most recent recorded water deal was in 2022.
- Is Peter Carlsson still at Northvolt?
- Peter Carlsson is no longer at Northvolt. He stepped down as chief executive in November 2024, a day after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and Northvolt later entered bankruptcy in Sweden in 2025. As of 2026 he has co-founded a new manufacturing-AI venture, Aris Machina.
- Where is Peter Carlsson based?
- Peter Carlsson is based in the Stockholm area of Sweden, where he invests through Ekenas Venture, the family vehicle he runs with his wife. His water portfolio is Nordic-rooted as well, with Orbital Systems headquartered in Malmo on Sweden's south coast.