Right Side Capital Management
Right Side Capital Management is a San Francisco pre-seed venture firm that writes tiny cheques into capital-efficient software startups. It is a generalist, not a water fund: only two of its 1,800-plus investments are water, GroGuru and Shower Stream. In August 2025 it closed its largest fund yet, the $55M Fund VI. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Right Side Capital Management runs one of the most prolific cheque-writing machines in US venture: a quantitative, data-driven model that backs capital-efficient software startups raising rounds of $500,000 or less, the tiny pre-seed deals (a company's very first outside money) that most institutional investors ignore. As of August 2025 it had closed its largest fund to date, a $55 million Fund VI, half again the size of the fund before it, and TIME and Statista had named it one of America's top venture firms of 2025.
Water is not what Right Side Capital Management sets out to do. In my Leviathan database, which logs every water raise I can find, the firm shows up exactly twice across more than 1,800 investments: GroGuru, which buries soil-moisture sensors in fields and tells growers when and how much to irrigate, and Shower Stream, a retrofittable smart shower valve that trims the water and energy a hot shower wastes. Both are software-and-sensor efficiency plays rather than pipes in the ground, which is exactly where a capital-light pre-seed fund leans when it does wade into water.
For a founder building in water, Right Side Capital Management is best read as a fast, early, generalist yes rather than a water specialist. It writes the small first cheque, answers in about two business days, and has happily sat in rounds next to dedicated water investors like Burnt Island Ventures. But it has led none of its water rounds, so treat it as an early fellow-traveller, not the lead investor a water company anchors its round around.
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
- What does Right Side Capital Management invest in?
- Right Side Capital Management invests broadly in capital-efficient, pre-seed technology startups, mostly software, across the US and Canada, not any single sector. Its water exposure is narrow: in the Leviathan database the firm backs just two water companies, soil-sensor startup GroGuru and smart-shower maker Shower Stream.
- What stage and check size does Right Side Capital Management invest at?
- Right Side Capital Management invests at pre-seed, a company's first outside money. By its own published criteria it backs post-revenue startups raising rounds of $500,000 or less and aims to answer founders in about two business days. It rarely leads, writing an early cheque alongside other investors.
- Who runs Right Side Capital Management?
- Right Side Capital Management is run by three co-founding Managing Directors, Kevin Dick, Dave Lambert and Jeff Pomeranz, seasoned technology operators who have built and backed companies since the 1990s. They sit alongside Venture Partner Curt Pabst and Growth Partner Paul Swiencicki on the firm's San Francisco team.
- Is Right Side Capital Management a water-focused fund?
- No. Right Side Capital Management is a generalist pre-seed technology investor, not a water specialist. Of its 1,800-plus investments, Leviathan tracks only two in water, GroGuru and Shower Stream. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional, reflecting two water companies across two deals and no rounds led.
- How many water companies has Right Side Capital Management backed?
- Right Side Capital Management has backed two water companies tracked by Leviathan: GroGuru, a soil-moisture and irrigation platform, and Shower Stream, a retrofittable IoT shower valve. The firm joined two water deals in total and led neither, which is why its water commitment is rated Occasional.