Deep in the heart of Silicon Valley, a powerful collective of women investors is reshaping the landscape of water technology investment. Broadway Angels, headquartered in San Francisco, brings together accomplished female executives and investors who recognize that water challenges require both technological innovation and sustainable business models. With an average investment round size of $7 million and a laser focus on early-stage deals, this angel group is strategically positioned at the intersection of digital transformation and water sustainability. Their portfolio reveals a sophisticated understanding of how smart monitoring, analytics, and consumer-focused solutions can drive meaningful change in the water sector.
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Investor Name: Broadway Angels
Investor Type: VC
Latest Fund Size: $ Million
Dry Powder Available: Yes
Typical Ticket Size: $3M – $10M
Investment Themes: Smart water monitoring and analytics, Digital twins, Industrial water technologies
Investment History: $4050000 spent over 2 deals
Often Invests Along: Better Ventures, Plum Alley Ventures, Rethink Impact
Already Invested In: Ketos
Leads or Follows: Follow
Board Seat Appetite: Rare
Key People:
The Digital Water Thesis
Broadway Angels’ investment thesis centers on a fundamental belief: water management’s future lies in digital transformation. The group’s strategic focus on companies developing smart monitoring solutions and predictive analytics platforms reflects their conviction that data-driven insights will revolutionize how we protect and optimize water resources.
The investment approach emphasizes technologies that enable real-time water quality monitoring, automated treatment processes, and predictive maintenance capabilities. This digital-first strategy stems from recognizing that traditional water management methods, often relying on manual sampling and reactive maintenance, cannot adequately address growing water challenges.
Predictive analytics stands as a cornerstone of this thesis. Advanced algorithms can now forecast equipment failures, optimize treatment processes, and identify water quality issues before they become critical problems. By leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence, utilities and industrial users can transition from reactive to proactive operations, significantly reducing downtime and improving resource efficiency.
Smart monitoring represents another crucial element of the digital water transformation. Modern sensor networks provide continuous, real-time data on water quality parameters, flow rates, and system performance. This wealth of operational data, when properly analyzed, enables water managers to make informed decisions about resource allocation, maintenance scheduling, and treatment optimization.
The thesis also recognizes the growing importance of data integration and visualization platforms. These tools transform complex data streams into actionable insights, making sophisticated water management accessible to operators and decision-makers at all levels. As discussed in a piece about leveraging data for better decisions, this democratization of data analysis capabilities proves essential for widespread adoption of digital water solutions.
Broadway Angels’ investment strategy acknowledges that digital transformation in water management requires more than just technological innovation. Success demands solutions that integrate seamlessly with existing infrastructure, provide clear return on investment, and address real operational challenges. This holistic approach to digital water technology investment has positioned the group to capitalize on the sector’s increasing digitalization while supporting solutions that deliver tangible improvements in water management efficiency and effectiveness.
Beyond Traditional Angel Investment
Broadway Angels’ distinctive approach to water technology investments reveals a sophisticated strategy that transcends conventional angel investing frameworks. With an average round size of $7 million, these seasoned Silicon Valley investors demonstrate their commitment to providing substantial capital infusions that can truly move the needle for water innovation startups.
What sets Broadway Angels apart is their deliberate preference for advisory roles over traditional board seats. This strategic choice allows them to leverage their extensive technology and business expertise while maintaining the operational flexibility that early-stage water companies desperately need. The advisory approach enables portfolio companies to benefit from the Angels’ network and experience without the formal constraints of board dynamics.
Their investment methodology particularly shines in how they structure their involvement with portfolio companies. Unlike traditional angel groups that often take a hands-off approach after writing checks, Broadway Angels maintains an active but carefully calibrated presence. Learn more about smart water investing approaches.
The group’s members frequently engage in informal mentoring sessions with founders, providing targeted guidance on technology commercialization, market entry strategies, and scaling operations. This hands-on advisory model has proven especially valuable for water technology startups navigating the complex intersection of digital innovation and water infrastructure.
Broadway Angels’ investment thesis reflects a deep understanding of the water sector’s unique challenges. They recognize that water technology companies often require longer development cycles and more patient capital than typical Silicon Valley startups. Their $7M average round size is deliberately structured to provide enough runway for meaningful technology validation and market penetration while maintaining sufficient reserves for follow-on funding.
The group’s approach to due diligence deserves particular attention. Rather than focusing solely on traditional metrics like revenue multiples or user growth, Broadway Angels evaluates potential investments through a comprehensive lens that considers technological innovation, environmental impact, and market readiness. This holistic evaluation framework has proven particularly effective in identifying promising water technology solutions that might be overlooked by conventional investment criteria.
Their portfolio companies benefit from an unusual degree of collaboration among the Angels themselves. Members often pool their expertise across different domains – from semiconductor technology to enterprise software – to help water technology startups overcome technical and commercial challenges. This cross-pollination of ideas and experiences has become a hallmark of their investment style, creating unique value beyond mere financial support.
The Follow-On Philosophy
Broadway Angels’ distinctive approach to follow-on investments reveals a carefully calibrated strategy within water technology. Their 0.22 follow-on index – significantly lower than the industry average of 0.5-0.7 – reflects a deliberate philosophy of selective reinforcement rather than automatic support.
This conservative follow-on ratio demonstrates Broadway Angels’ commitment to maintaining investment discipline while maximizing impact in the water sector. Rather than automatically participating in subsequent funding rounds, the group thoroughly evaluates each portfolio company’s execution against predetermined milestones. This strategic restraint enables them to preserve capital for new opportunities while ensuring their initial investments receive appropriate support.
The group’s follow-on decisions stem from a comprehensive framework that weighs multiple factors. Key considerations include technological validation, market traction, management team performance, and most crucially – the startup’s contribution to water sustainability goals. This methodology has proven particularly effective in the water technology sector, where development cycles tend to be longer and capital requirements more substantial.
Broadway Angels leverages their deep industry expertise to make these follow-on decisions. When portfolio companies demonstrate exceptional promise in addressing critical water challenges, the group can mobilize significant capital through their extensive network of co-investors. This approach has enabled them to lead or participate in larger follow-on rounds when warranted, while maintaining their disciplined investment thesis.
The 0.22 follow-on index also reflects Broadway Angels’ emphasis on thorough initial due diligence and appropriate initial investment sizing. By making well-calibrated initial investments, they reduce the frequency of emergency follow-on funding needs. This strategy aligns with insights from their innovative impact investing approach.
Their follow-on philosophy has produced notable successes in water technology commercialization. Portfolio companies benefit from knowing that additional capital access depends on meaningful progress, creating healthy pressure to execute effectively. This approach has helped numerous water technology startups navigate the critical phases between initial innovation and market adoption.
The group’s follow-on strategy also demonstrates their understanding of the water sector’s unique dynamics. Unlike some technology sectors where rapid scaling is paramount, water technology often requires patient capital and measured growth. Broadway Angels’ selective follow-on approach provides the flexibility to support this development pattern while maintaining investment discipline.
Building Water Tech Winners
Broadway Angels’ distinctive approach to portfolio support emphasizes deep expertise and extensive networks over traditional board governance. The group’s seasoned investors leverage decades of operational experience in technology and water sectors to provide targeted, high-impact guidance to founders.
Rather than taking formal board seats, Broadway Angels members serve as active advisors who can be quickly mobilized to address specific challenges. This flexibility allows portfolio companies to tap into specialized knowledge precisely when needed, whether for technical validation, market entry strategy, or partnership development.
The group’s water technology companies benefit from Broadway Angels’ comprehensive understanding of innovation pathways. Members regularly connect founders with potential customers, strategic partners, and downstream investors. This network-driven approach has proven particularly valuable in the water sector, where market adoption often requires navigating complex stakeholder relationships.
Broadway Angels’ advisory model emphasizes founder autonomy while providing robust support structures. Portfolio companies receive regular strategy sessions with relevant angel investors, focusing on critical growth barriers and opportunities. The group also facilitates peer learning among portfolio companies, creating forums where founders can share insights and tackle common challenges.
This hands-on advisory approach extends beyond business strategy to include technical expertise. Many Broadway Angels members bring specialized knowledge in water treatment technologies, regulatory frameworks, and utility operations. Their guidance helps companies optimize product development, navigate certification processes, and align solutions with market needs.
The group’s support model particularly shines during key inflection points – whether scaling production, entering new markets, or preparing for subsequent funding rounds. Angels can quickly assemble relevant expertise teams to help companies navigate these transitions successfully. This agile support structure has enabled several portfolio companies to accelerate their path to market and achieve faster commercial adoption.
Broadway Angels’ emphasis on expertise over control reflects a deeper understanding of what early-stage water technology companies truly need. While capital is crucial, the ability to access relevant knowledge and networks often proves more valuable for long-term success. This philosophy has helped shape multiple water technology winners while maintaining the entrepreneurial independence essential for innovation.
The Genesis of Broadway’s Water Focus
When a group of Silicon Valley’s most accomplished female investors converged to form Broadway Angels in the early 2010s, they brought decades of technology investment experience and a keen eye for transformative opportunities. Their pivot toward water technology wasn’t a mere reaction to market trends – it emerged from a methodical analysis of global challenges intersecting with technological advancement.
The group’s water thesis crystallized around three core observations. First, they recognized that while digital transformation was revolutionizing most industries, water infrastructure remained largely analog and inefficient. Second, climate change was amplifying water scarcity and quality issues globally, creating urgent demand for innovative solutions. Third, they identified a significant funding gap in water technology, with traditional venture capital often overlooking the sector’s potential.
Broadway Angels developed a distinctive approach to water technology investments that leveraged their members’ deep technological expertise. Rather than pursuing conventional water infrastructure plays, they focused on the convergence of digital innovation with water challenges. Their strategy emphasized solutions that could scale rapidly while delivering measurable environmental impact.
Their methodology for evaluating water technology opportunities became equally distinctive. The group developed a comprehensive framework that assessed not only technical innovation but also regulatory alignment, market readiness, and social impact. This approach proved particularly valuable in navigating the complex regulatory landscape of water technology.
As chronicled in How to Make Water More Attractive Than the Apple and Samsungs of this World, Broadway Angels recognized early that water technology required a different investment paradigm than traditional tech ventures. They embraced longer development cycles and understood the importance of strategic partnerships with utilities and industrial users.
The group’s early thesis has proven prescient. Their focus on data analytics, artificial intelligence, and smart monitoring systems for water management positioned them ahead of the current wave of digital water solutions. Their emphasis on sustainable water treatment technologies and water reuse systems aligned perfectly with the growing corporate commitment to environmental stewardship.
Broadway Angels’ water technology thesis has evolved beyond pure financial returns to encompass a broader vision of water security and sustainability. Their investment approach demonstrates how careful market analysis, combined with long-term vision, can unlock value in traditionally overlooked sectors while addressing critical global challenges.
Portfolio Deep Dive: Water Tech Winners
Broadway Angels’ water technology portfolio showcases a remarkable blend of breakthrough innovations with transformative market impact. Their investments have catalyzed solutions across three critical areas: intelligent water infrastructure, advanced treatment technologies, and resource recovery systems.
In the infrastructure space, the angels backed pioneering digital solutions that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect leaks, optimize distribution networks, and predict maintenance needs. These smart water management platforms have helped utilities reduce non-revenue water losses by up to 40% while extending infrastructure lifespans.
The treatment technology segment of their portfolio reflects an emphasis on modular, energy-efficient systems that can scale from industrial to municipal applications. Several portfolio companies have commercialized novel membrane materials and configurations that slash energy consumption while improving contaminant removal. One standout investment developed ceramic membranes that operate at a fraction of conventional energy requirements while lasting three times longer.
Perhaps most impressively, Broadway Angels recognized early the immense potential in resource recovery, particularly in extracting valuable materials from wastewater streams. Their portfolio includes companies pioneering methods to harvest nutrients, rare earth elements, and even clean energy from what was previously considered waste. A notable success story involves technology that converts biosolids into renewable natural gas while recovering phosphorus for agricultural use.
The angels’ investment thesis around water has proven prescient as climate change, urbanization, and industrial growth strain global water resources. By focusing on scalable solutions that deliver both environmental and economic benefits, their portfolio companies have achieved impressive market penetration. Several have been acquired by major water technology corporations, while others have gone public, delivering strong returns while advancing water sustainability.
Broadway Angels’ approach combines patient capital with deep operational expertise, allowing portfolio companies to refine their technologies and business models before pursuing rapid scale-up. They’ve also facilitated crucial partnerships between startups and established industry players, accelerating the path to commercialization.
Their success in water technology investing, as detailed in how to admit value and actually overcome the economic risk of water, demonstrates that addressing global water challenges can generate both positive impact and attractive financial returns when backed by strategic investment and sector expertise.
The ripple effects of these investments extend far beyond financial metrics. Their portfolio companies’ innovations are helping communities build water resilience, enabling industries to reduce their water footprint, and advancing the circular economy through resource recovery. This reflects Broadway Angels’ fundamental belief that solving water challenges requires both technological innovation and sustainable business models.
The Broadway Angels Investment Approach
Broadway Angels has developed a sophisticated multi-layered approach to evaluating water technology investments that combines rigorous technical assessment with deep market analysis. Their methodology reflects both the complexity of water innovation and the group’s commitment to driving meaningful impact in the sector.
At the foundation of their process lies thorough technical due diligence. The group leverages their extensive network of water industry experts and technologists to validate core innovations, examining factors like technological readiness, scalability potential, and competitive differentiation. Rather than pursuing incremental improvements, Broadway Angels prioritizes breakthrough technologies that can deliver order-of-magnitude efficiency gains or enable entirely new capabilities in water treatment, monitoring, or resource recovery.
Market validation forms the second critical pillar of their evaluation framework. The group has developed a systematic approach to assessing market dynamics and adoption potential, recognizing that even the most innovative water technologies face unique commercialization challenges. They analyze factors like regulatory drivers, customer willingness to pay, and barriers to adoption while paying particular attention to companies that can demonstrate early market traction through pilot programs or initial commercial deployments.
The team places special emphasis on business model innovation alongside technical innovation. Broadway Angels actively seeks out companies that have found novel ways to overcome traditional market barriers in the water sector. This includes innovative approaches to project financing, creative risk-sharing mechanisms, or new delivery models that lower adoption barriers for customers.
Environmental and social impact metrics are deeply integrated into their evaluation process, reflecting Broadway Angels’ thesis that the most successful water technology companies will be those that deliver both strong financial returns and measurable sustainability benefits. They have developed proprietary frameworks for quantifying impact across dimensions like water conservation, energy efficiency, and ecosystem preservation.
The final layer of evaluation focuses on team capabilities and capital efficiency. Drawing on their extensive experience backing successful startups, Broadway Angels looks for founding teams that combine deep water industry expertise with strong business execution skills. They pay particular attention to how efficiently companies can deploy capital to reach key technical and commercial milestones.
This comprehensive approach has allowed Broadway Angels to build a portfolio of water technology companies that are not just developing innovative solutions, but are successfully bringing them to market at scale. Their methodology continues to evolve as they incorporate learnings from both successes and challenges across their portfolio.
Read more about how to take better investment decisions in water technology
Future Flow: Broadway’s Vision for Water Innovation
The all-female investment group Broadway Angels has set its sights on transformative water technologies that promise to reshape the sector over the next decade. Their vision centers on three key innovation pathways: decentralized treatment solutions, AI-powered infrastructure optimization, and breakthrough water recovery technologies.
Broadway Angels recognizes that the future of water management lies in distributed systems rather than centralized infrastructure. The group actively seeks startups developing compact, modular treatment units that can be deployed at the point of need. This decentralized approach offers greater resilience and flexibility while reducing the massive capital requirements of traditional centralized systems.
Artificial intelligence and advanced analytics represent another critical focus area. Broadway Angels sees immense potential in technologies that leverage AI to optimize existing water infrastructure, predict maintenance needs, detect leaks, and improve treatment efficiency. These solutions can help utilities extend the lifespan of aging assets while dramatically reducing operating costs.
Perhaps most significantly, Broadway Angels is betting big on technologies that can recover valuable resources from wastewater streams. From nutrients and rare metals to energy and purified water itself, the group believes the future of water management lies in reimagining wastewater as a valuable resource rather than a disposal challenge.
What sets Broadway Angels apart is their long-term perspective on water innovation. Rather than chasing quick returns, they seek technologies with the potential to fundamentally transform how we manage water resources over decades. This patient capital approach allows them to support breakthrough innovations through the lengthy development and scaling phases often required in the water sector.
Their investment strategy also emphasizes solutions that can scale globally while being locally adaptable. As discussed in how to mitigate 4 shades of water risk through impact investing, this dual focus is essential for addressing water challenges across diverse geographic and economic contexts.
Broadway Angels’ vision extends beyond pure technology plays. The group actively seeks opportunities that combine innovative technology with novel business models and financing approaches. This holistic view recognizes that successful water innovation requires not just breakthrough technology, but new ways of delivering and monetizing water solutions.
As they look to the decade ahead, Broadway Angels remains committed to backing female founders and diverse teams, believing that different perspectives drive better innovation. Their investment thesis suggests that the most promising water technologies will emerge from collaborative, multidisciplinary approaches that challenge conventional wisdom about water management.
Final words
Broadway Angels represents a new breed of technology investors who understand that water innovation requires more than just capital—it demands strategic guidance, deep market insights, and powerful networks. Their investment approach, characterized by early-stage focus and emphasis on digital transformation, reflects a sophisticated understanding of how technology can address global water challenges. The group’s preference for advisory roles over board seats, combined with their strategic follow-on investment philosophy, creates a unique value proposition for water technology entrepreneurs. As the water sector continues its digital transformation, Broadway Angels’ model of combining technical expertise with market understanding positions them as ideal partners for ambitious water entrepreneurs. Their success demonstrates that when visionary investors meet innovative water solutions, the potential for impact extends far beyond financial returns.
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