Ivanhoe Capital Holdings
Ivanhoe Capital Holdings is the Singapore family office of mining and energy financier Robert Friedland. It backs critical-minerals, mining, and energy-transition companies, and water reaches it only where it meets metals: lithium pulled from brine, and mine-water treatment. It is not a water fund. As of 2026, (don't) Waste Water tracks 2 water bets across 3 deals.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Ivanhoe Capital Holdings is the private investment vehicle of Robert Friedland, the American-Canadian billionaire who has spent four decades financing mines and energy projects from a base in Singapore. A family office is just the in-house fund a single wealthy family uses to place its own money, and Friedland's places his where he knows the ground best: critical minerals, mining, and the metals that feed the energy transition. The Ivanhoe name runs across public giants like Ivanhoe Mines and Ivanhoe Electric; the Holdings entity is the private wallet that sits behind them.
Ivanhoe Capital Holdings reaches water sideways, and only where water carries a metals story. Both of its water-tagged bets sit at the seam between mining and treatment: Pure Lithium, whose lithium-selective membrane pulls lithium straight out of geothermal and oilfield brine, and Clean TeQ Water, an Australian-listed maker of membrane-free desalination and metals-recovery kit for mining, groundwater and industrial water. Neither is the pipes-and-utilities water company a (don't) Waste Water reader might first picture.
Ivanhoe Capital Holdings is not the first call a pure-play water founder should make, and I would not pretend otherwise: its mandate is critical minerals, and water is a rounding error on its books, 2 companies across 3 deals. But those two bets mark exactly where heavy industry and water now collide: the brine you mine for lithium, and the water you must clean to keep a mine running. When a water technology is really a minerals play wearing water's clothes, this is the kind of deep-pocketed family office that can write a real cheque.
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.
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Ivanhoe Capital Holdings invest in?
- Ivanhoe Capital Holdings invests in critical minerals, mining, and energy-transition companies, the sectors where founder Robert Friedland has worked for four decades. Water appears only at the edges, through lithium-from-brine extraction and mine-water treatment. It is a Singapore family office and an energy and resources investor, not a water specialist.
- Is Ivanhoe Capital Holdings a water fund?
- Ivanhoe Capital Holdings is not a water fund. It is the family office of mining financier Robert Friedland, and water reaches its portfolio only where it meets metals: Pure Lithium, which extracts lithium from brine, and Clean TeQ Water, which treats mining and industrial water. (don't) Waste Water still rates its water commitment Committed.
- Who is behind Ivanhoe Capital Holdings?
- Ivanhoe Capital Holdings is wholly owned by Robert Friedland, the American-Canadian billionaire financier behind Ivanhoe Mines and Ivanhoe Electric, who is based in Singapore. The holding company is his private investment vehicle for critical minerals, energy and selected technology ventures, rather than a multi-partner fund with outside investors.
- Is Ivanhoe Capital Holdings the same as Ivanhoe Mines or the Ivanhoe SPAC?
- No. Ivanhoe Capital Holdings is Robert Friedland's private Singapore family office. Ivanhoe Mines and Ivanhoe Electric are separate public mining companies he founded, and Ivanhoe Capital Acquisition Corp was a distinct Singapore-listed SPAC. They share the Ivanhoe name and founder, but Holdings is the private vehicle, not a listed entity.
- What water companies has Ivanhoe Capital Holdings backed?
- Ivanhoe Capital Holdings has backed two water-tagged companies, both linking water to metals. Pure Lithium uses a lithium-selective membrane to draw lithium from geothermal and oilfield brine. Clean TeQ Water, listed in Australia, builds membrane-free desalination and metals-recovery systems for mining, groundwater and industrial water. Neither is a municipal utility business.