Aer Ventures
Aer Ventures is a London-based, FCA-regulated venture investor backing early-stage UK companies that tackle resource and environmental challenges. It funds impact founders through SEIS and EIS, the UK's tax-relief schemes for early-stage investing. As of 2026 its tracked water bet is WaterCycle Technologies, which recovers critical minerals from water.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Aer Ventures is one of those small London firms that looks like a fund but actually runs like an accelerator with a chequebook. Paul Dudley and Chris Rowley founded it in 2021 to put capital and hands-on help behind founders solving resource and environmental problems, and they invest almost entirely through SEIS and EIS, the two UK schemes that hand early-stage investors a chunk of their money back as tax relief for taking a risk on young companies.
Aer's water credibility sits mostly with Chris Rowley. Before Aer he built Source8, a sustainability and real-estate technology business he sold to the facilities group Mitie, where he then ran the energy, water and resource-management lines, so he has actually operated the unglamorous side of water rather than just funded it. That background shows up in the one water company (don't) Waste Water tracks in Aer's book: WaterCycle Technologies, a University of Manchester spin-out that uses graphene-oxide membranes to pull lithium and other critical minerals out of brines and waste-water streams.
Aer's thesis shows through what it backs there. WaterCycle puts water at the centre of the critical-minerals supply chain, the lithium and battery metals everyone needs for the energy transition and almost nobody wants to mine more of. Aer came in at WaterCycle's pre-seed in 2022 and stayed in through its 2024 Series A, so across two rounds and a single company it has already shown the instinct that matters most this early: find a team, then keep backing it.
For a newcomer the read on Aer Ventures is simple. This is a tax-efficient, early-stage UK impact investor with a real operator at the table, and water turns up because the resource and energy-transition thesis keeps leading back to it. If you are watching where small British cheques meet hard-science water and minerals startups, Aer is a name worth keeping on the list, even if its water book is still just getting started.
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 Aer Ventures invest in?
- Aer Ventures invests in early-stage UK companies tackling resource and environmental challenges, from critical materials to broader sustainability. It backs founders through SEIS and EIS, the UK's tax-relief schemes for early-stage investors, typically with first cheques between 50,000 and 500,000 pounds. Its tracked water investment is WaterCycle Technologies.
- Who runs Aer Ventures?
- Aer Ventures was co-founded in 2021 by Paul Dudley and Chris Rowley, who both serve as Managing Partners. Dudley came from corporate finance at PwC and a London Stock Exchange member firm he co-founded, while Rowley built and sold the sustainability business Source8 and later ran water and resource management at Mitie.
- Where is Aer Ventures based?
- Aer Ventures is based in London, United Kingdom, and invests in UK-headquartered companies whose funding rounds qualify for SEIS or EIS tax relief. Founded in 2021, it is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is a member of Innovate UK's investor partnership programme for the future economy.
- Is Aer Ventures a water fund?
- Aer Ventures is a broad early-stage impact investor rather than a water-only fund, focused on resource and environmental sustainability, and water shows up through that lens. (don't) Waste Water tracks one water company in its portfolio, WaterCycle Technologies, which recovers lithium and other critical minerals from brine and waste water.
- Is Aer Ventures the same as WaterCycle Technologies?
- Aer Ventures is the investor, not the technology company. Aer is a London venture firm that backs startups, while the water technology belongs to WaterCycle Technologies, a separate University of Manchester spin-out building mineral-recovery systems. Aer provides capital and support; WaterCycle builds the membranes and extraction hardware.