Level Equity
Level Equity is a New York growth-equity firm that backs software and technology-enabled businesses. Level Equity's one water-related bet, VivoAquatics, is a water-risk-management software platform for hotels, water parks, and municipalities. As of 2026, (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional: one company across two funding rounds.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Level Equity is a growth-equity firm, the kind that writes large cheques into software companies that are already scaling rather than betting on unproven startups, and as of March 2026 it closed its third structured-capital fund at $293.5 million, oversubscribed past a $225 million target. Founded in New York in 2009 by three former Insight Partners investors, Ben Levin, George McCulloch, and Sarah Sommer, it has raised more than $4.5 billion across its funds. Water has never been the point.
Level Equity backs vertical software and technology-enabled businesses across sectors, the unglamorous tools that run an industry from the inside. Its one water-related holding that (don't) Waste Water tracks, VivoAquatics, fits that mould exactly: not a treatment plant or a pipe, but a cloud platform that watches water quality, flow, and chemistry for hotels, water parks, fitness clubs, and municipalities. Partner Nick Berardo oversees the investment, which Level Equity made because VivoAquatics is good software for a water problem, not because the firm set out to fund water.
Level Equity is best read as a software investor that wandered into water once, not a water specialist, which is why (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional rather than core. For a water founder, the draw here is capital and software-scaling muscle, not water-sector expertise, and the bar is high: Level Equity writes growth-stage cheques into companies that already look like winners. A water startup that is really a software company, the way VivoAquatics is, is the kind that fits; a hardware or infrastructure play almost certainly is not.
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
Frequently asked
- What does Level Equity invest in?
- Level Equity invests in rapidly growing software and technology-enabled businesses, writing growth-stage and structured-capital cheques across both minority and majority deals. It is a generalist software investor, not a water fund; water reaches its portfolio only when a company, like the water-software platform VivoAquatics, fits that software thesis.
- Is Level Equity a water investor?
- No. Level Equity is a New York growth-equity firm focused on software and technology-enabled businesses. (don't) Waste Water tracks a single water-related holding, VivoAquatics, and rates Level Equity's water commitment Occasional. Water is incidental to its thesis, reached through software rather than through infrastructure or treatment plants.
- What is VivoAquatics, and why did Level Equity back it?
- VivoAquatics is a water-risk-management software company whose VivoPoint platform monitors water quality, flow, and chemistry for hotels, water parks, fitness clubs, and municipalities. Level Equity, with Partner Nick Berardo overseeing the investment, backed it as a vertical-software business serving water, not as an infrastructure bet.
- Who founded Level Equity?
- Level Equity was founded in New York in 2009 by Ben Levin, George McCulloch, and Sarah Sommer, three investors who had worked together at Insight Partners. Ben Levin is Co-Founder and CEO, Sarah Sommer is a Co-Founder and Partner, and George McCulloch is a co-founding partner of the firm.
- Is Level Equity the same as VivoAquatics or other 'Level' firms?
- No. Level Equity is a New York software-focused growth-equity firm founded in 2009. VivoAquatics, the water-risk-management software company, is one of Level Equity's portfolio investments, not the firm itself, and Level Equity is distinct from similarly named investment firms.