Hidden in the heart of Hawaii but reaching across continents, Elemental Excelerator has emerged as a powerhouse in climate tech acceleration, with water solutions playing a starring role. Since 2009, this unique accelerator has deployed over $50 million in funding, catalyzing groundbreaking technologies that address our most pressing water challenges. By combining deep technical expertise with a profound understanding of community needs, Elemental Excelerator has pioneered a new model for scaling climate solutions – one that values impact alongside innovation. For water entrepreneurs and impact investors alike, this represents a compelling blueprint for turning promising ideas into planet-positive realities.
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Investor Name: Elemental Excelerator
Investor Type: Impact
Latest Fund Size: $94 Million
Dry Powder Available: Yes
Typical Ticket Size: $250k – $1M
Investment Themes: Wastewater Treatment & Resource Recovery, Water Quality Monitoring & Sensors, Digital Water Infrastructure
Investment History: $300000 spent over 7 deals
Often Invests Along: Echo River Capital
Already Invested In: Cambrian Innovation, Digital Paani, Hohonu, NEER, Reath, Transcend
Leads or Follows: Follow
Board Seat Appetite: Rare
Key People: Dawn Lippert, Danya Hakeem, Kim Baker, Amir Chireh Mehr
The Elemental Edge: A New Model for Water Innovation
Elemental Excelerator has pioneered a revolutionary approach to accelerating water technology startups, one that places equity and real-world impact at its core. Unlike traditional accelerators focused primarily on rapid growth and financial returns, Elemental’s model recognizes that meaningful water innovation requires deep community engagement and place-based solutions.
At the heart of their approach is the understanding that water challenges disproportionately affect underserved communities. Elemental requires portfolio companies to integrate equity considerations from day one, ensuring solutions benefit those most impacted by water stress, pollution, and infrastructure gaps. This equity-centered framework has proven remarkably effective at both addressing critical needs and building sustainable businesses.
The accelerator’s emphasis on real-world deployment sets it apart. Rather than stopping at proof-of-concept, Elemental provides substantial funding – typically $200,000 to $1 million per project – specifically for implementing solutions in actual communities. This deployment-focused model helps startups overcome the ‘pilot purgatory’ that often plagues water innovation.
Elemental’s methodology centers on identifying technologies that can scale rapidly while delivering measurable environmental and social impact. They’ve developed sophisticated metrics to evaluate both business viability and community benefit, creating a new paradigm for what success looks like in the water sector.
The accelerator has also mastered the art of building strategic partnerships between startups and established organizations. By connecting innovators with utilities, municipalities, and large corporates, they create pathways for technologies to reach broader markets while ensuring solutions are shaped by real operational needs.
This unique approach has yielded impressive results in addressing complex water challenges. Portfolio companies have demonstrated remarkable success in areas ranging from water quality monitoring to advanced treatment technologies, proving that profit and purpose can align in the water sector. Their work in climate resilience and water equity has become a model for how to drive systematic change while building successful enterprises.
From Pipeline to Portfolio: Selection and Support
At Elemental Excelerator, identifying and nurturing promising water startups follows a meticulous process designed to maximize impact potential. The selection journey exemplifies how to take mid-market green tech companies to the next level through careful vetting and comprehensive support.
The selection process begins with a thorough evaluation of each startup’s technology, market potential, and alignment with climate goals. Companies must demonstrate not just technical innovation, but also a clear path to deployment and scalability. What sets Elemental’s approach apart is the emphasis on community impact – startups must show how their solutions will benefit frontline communities facing water challenges.
Once selected, portfolio companies receive far more than just funding. The support package includes strategic guidance from seasoned entrepreneurs and industry experts who help refine business models and go-to-market strategies. Technical assistance covers critical areas like regulatory compliance, pilot project design, and impact measurement frameworks.
Elemental’s funding model is equally distinctive, providing staged capital tied to specific milestones. This approach ensures accountability while giving startups the runway needed to prove their concepts. Beyond direct funding, companies gain access to Elemental’s extensive network of corporate partners, utilities, and investors – relationships that often prove crucial for scaling solutions.
The accelerator’s support extends to developing strong leadership teams through executive coaching and peer learning opportunities. Regular cohort meetings allow founders to share challenges and solutions, creating a collaborative ecosystem that strengthens the entire portfolio.
This comprehensive selection and support framework has proven remarkably effective at bridging the gap between promising water technologies and real-world implementation. By combining rigorous vetting with multifaceted support, Elemental creates the conditions for water innovations to thrive and scale their impact.
The Water Impact Multiplier
When startup funding meets strategic support, remarkable transformations unfold. Elemental Excelerator’s portfolio companies demonstrate how targeted capital combined with expert guidance creates exponential impact in addressing water challenges.
A key success story emerges from drought-prone regions where an Elemental-backed startup deployed smart irrigation technology across agricultural operations. The accelerator’s funding enabled rapid prototype refinement and field testing, while their network connections facilitated pilot projects with major farming enterprises. This dual support helped the company reduce water usage by 40% while maintaining crop yields.
In urban water infrastructure, another portfolio company tackled aging pipeline systems through advanced leak detection. Elemental’s funding supported the development of sensor networks and machine learning algorithms that pinpoint water losses with unprecedented accuracy. Their guidance in navigating utility partnerships led to implementations saving millions of gallons annually.
The multiplier effect extends beyond direct water savings. A wastewater treatment innovator leveraged Elemental’s support to scale their energy-efficient biological process. The technology now treats effluent at 30% lower operating costs while producing higher quality water for reuse. This success attracted additional investment, enabling rapid expansion to multiple facilities.
What sets Elemental’s approach apart is their emphasis on deployment in real-world conditions. Rather than just providing capital, they facilitate connections with customers, regulators, and industry partners. This comprehensive support helps startups overcome the “valley of death” between innovation and widespread adoption.
The accelerator’s impact measurement goes beyond traditional metrics, tracking not just financial returns but also water saved, energy reduced, and communities served. This holistic view ensures solutions deliver genuine sustainability benefits while building viable businesses.
As detailed in How to Take Mid-Market Green Tech Companies to the Next Level, this model of active support combined with strategic capital creates a powerful catalyst for water innovation. The result is an expanding portfolio of proven solutions ready to address our most pressing water challenges.
Community-First Innovation
At the heart of Elemental Excelerator’s approach lies a fundamental understanding: effective water solutions must emerge from deep community engagement and address local needs. This place-based methodology sets them apart in the accelerator landscape.
Rather than imposing pre-packaged technologies, Elemental works closely with communities to identify their unique water challenges. They facilitate ongoing dialogue between startups and local stakeholders, ensuring solutions are culturally appropriate and economically viable for specific contexts.
This collaborative process begins with extensive community mapping. Elemental’s team spends months building relationships with local leaders, understanding historical context, and documenting both technical and social barriers to water access and management. These insights shape their startup selection criteria and deployment strategies.
The accelerator’s projects in Hawaii exemplify this approach. Working with native Hawaiian communities, they discovered that conventional water quality monitoring methods clashed with traditional practices of watershed management. This led them to support startups developing culturally-aligned monitoring tools that incorporate indigenous knowledge while providing reliable data.
Beyond technology deployment, Elemental ensures community benefits through structured agreements. Startups must commit to local hiring, skills training, and knowledge transfer. This creates lasting capacity within communities to maintain and evolve solutions over time.
Elemental’s model has proven that when communities lead innovation processes, solutions stick. Their funded startups show higher rates of long-term adoption and sustained impact compared to traditional top-down implementation approaches.
As detailed in how nature-based solutions better protect cities from soaring environmental risks, this community-centric framework is especially critical for climate resilience projects. By deeply understanding local contexts, Elemental helps startups navigate complex social dynamics while delivering meaningful environmental benefits.
The Investment Thesis
Elemental Excelerator’s investment approach represents a paradigm shift in how accelerators evaluate and support water technology companies. Building on their community-first model, their investment thesis centers on three core pillars: market readiness, community impact, and scalable solutions.
The accelerator takes a portfolio approach that balances risk across different technology maturity levels. They typically invest $200,000 to $500,000 in early-stage companies through milestone-based funding, ensuring capital efficiency while maintaining accountability. Unlike traditional venture capital, Elemental doesn’t chase quick exits but focuses on long-term value creation.
What sets their thesis apart is the emphasis on real-world deployment. By requiring portfolio companies to implement pilot projects in partnership with communities, Elemental validates both technical feasibility and market demand. This approach has proven particularly valuable in the water sector, where lengthy sales cycles and regulatory hurdles often challenge conventional investment models.
Their investment criteria prioritize technologies that address critical water challenges while delivering measurable environmental and social benefits. The accelerator looks for solutions that can demonstrate clear pathways to commercial scale, with a particular focus on innovations that improve water access, quality, or efficiency.
Elemental’s model has important implications for water tech investors. Their success challenges the notion that impact-focused investing must sacrifice returns. By proving that community engagement and environmental benefits can align with commercial success, they’re helping reshape how the broader investment community values water technologies.
For investors considering the water sector, Elemental’s approach offers valuable lessons about the importance of patient capital and stakeholder engagement. Their portfolio demonstrates that successful water investments require looking beyond traditional metrics to consider factors like community acceptance, regulatory alignment, and ecosystem impacts.
Future Flows: What’s Next for Water Innovation
Water innovation stands at a pivotal inflection point, with emerging technologies and approaches poised to fundamentally reshape how we manage, treat, and value water resources. Through Elemental’s lens, several transformative trends are crystallizing into tangible opportunities.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are revolutionizing predictive analytics for water infrastructure, enabling utilities to detect leaks, optimize treatment processes, and forecast demand with unprecedented accuracy. These technologies are moving beyond pilot phases into full-scale deployments, demonstrating compelling returns on investment.
Decentralized water treatment and reuse systems are gaining momentum as cities seek resilience against climate impacts. Small-scale, modular solutions allow for targeted deployment where needed most, while reducing dependency on aging centralized infrastructure. This shift enables more sustainable urban water management while opening new market opportunities.
Biomimetic approaches drawing inspiration from nature’s time-tested water processing mechanisms are showing tremendous promise. From membranes that mimic cell proteins to treatment systems based on natural filtration processes, these innovations offer potentially game-changing improvements in efficiency and sustainability.
Digital water solutions integrating IoT sensors, cloud computing, and advanced analytics are creating new possibilities for real-time monitoring and control. This technological convergence enables more responsive and efficient water management while generating valuable data insights.
Perhaps most significantly, innovative financing models and public-private partnerships are emerging to help scale promising solutions. These frameworks address the critical challenge of deploying new technologies at scale while managing risk and ensuring equitable access.
As these trends converge, they create opportunities for solutions that are not just incrementally better, but transformatively different in their approach to water challenges. The key will be identifying and supporting innovations that can scale rapidly while delivering measurable impact.
The Elemental Edge in Water Innovation
Elemental Excelerator stands at the forefront of water technology acceleration through its distinctive approach to funding and scaling climate solutions. Building on its roots in Hawaii’s unique water challenges, the accelerator has developed an unparalleled track record in identifying and nurturing water innovations that deliver measurable environmental and social impact.
The accelerator’s strategic advantage stems from its deep understanding of regional water complexities. Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all model, Elemental works closely with startups to implement targeted solutions in specific geographic contexts. This place-based strategy has proven remarkably effective in validating technologies while generating real-world impact data.
A key differentiator in Elemental’s approach is its commitment to active investment. Beyond providing capital, the accelerator takes a hands-on role in project deployment, connecting portfolio companies with utility partners, corporate customers, and government stakeholders. This ecosystem-building approach has resulted in an impressive 85% survival rate among water technology companies in their portfolio.
The accelerator’s investment thesis centers on solutions that address both immediate water challenges and long-term climate resilience. Their portfolio includes innovations in water reuse, smart infrastructure, resource recovery, and decentralized treatment systems. What sets these investments apart is their dual focus on commercial viability and climate impact.
Elemental’s funding model reflects this dual mandate. Through a combination of equity investments and project funding, they help startups bridge the critical gap between pilot testing and commercial scale. This flexible capital approach has enabled numerous water technologies to achieve market validation while maintaining their impact objectives.
The results speak for themselves: Elemental’s water technology companies have collectively raised over $350 million in follow-on funding. More importantly, these companies have deployed solutions that demonstrably improve water security, reduce energy consumption, and enhance climate resilience across diverse communities.
Investment Philosophy: Beyond Traditional Metrics
At the core of Elemental Excelerator’s investment strategy lies a sophisticated dual lens that evaluates both financial returns and environmental impact with equal rigor. This distinctive approach recognizes that solving water challenges requires more than just technological innovation – it demands solutions that create lasting positive change while building sustainable businesses.
The accelerator’s evaluation framework begins with traditional venture metrics like market size, competitive advantage, and team capabilities. However, Elemental pushes beyond these standard measures to assess a technology’s potential for meaningful environmental and social impact. Water sustainability requires escaping common pitfalls while taking concrete steps toward meaningful progress.
Critical impact metrics include water savings potential, energy efficiency gains, greenhouse gas reductions, and benefits to underserved communities. The accelerator places particular emphasis on solutions that can scale rapidly while maintaining positive environmental outcomes. This means closely examining not just the direct effects of a technology, but also its broader systemic impacts across the water cycle.
Elemental’s due diligence process involves extensive stakeholder engagement, from utility partners to community organizations. This helps validate both the commercial viability and real-world impact potential of prospective investments. Technologies must demonstrate clear pathways to deployment in diverse contexts.
The accelerator also considers the adaptability of solutions across different geographies and regulatory environments. This includes evaluating whether technologies can be effectively implemented in both developed and emerging markets, maximizing their potential for global impact.
This comprehensive evaluation approach has enabled Elemental to build a portfolio of water technologies that not only deliver strong financial performance but also drive measurable environmental benefits. Their success demonstrates that profit and positive impact need not be mutually exclusive when the right metrics and frameworks guide investment decisions.
Technology Deployment in Action
Elemental Excelerator’s technology deployments demonstrate how innovative water solutions can create measurable impact at scale. Taking promising technologies from pilot to full implementation requires navigating complex technical, regulatory, and community considerations.
A standout example comes from drought-prone communities, where advanced water reuse systems now transform wastewater into high-quality recycled water. These systems reduce strain on freshwater sources while providing reliable water access for agriculture and industry. The deployments leverage artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to optimize treatment processes, cutting energy usage by up to 30% compared to conventional methods.
In vulnerable coastal regions, nature-based solutions deployed through Elemental’s programs protect communities from flooding while improving water quality. Restored wetlands and bioswales now filter urban runoff, sequester carbon, and provide critical wildlife habitat. Real-time monitoring validates these systems’ effectiveness through quantifiable metrics like pollutant removal rates and flood mitigation capacity.
Perhaps most importantly, successful deployments catalyze wider adoption. When one utility demonstrates proven results, others take notice. For instance, an initial smart water metering project that reduced water losses by 25% has now been replicated across multiple service areas, saving billions of gallons annually.
Elemental’s hands-on approach ensures technologies work for all stakeholders. They engage community members early, incorporate local knowledge, and build capacity for long-term operations. This creates solutions that are not just technically sound but socially embraced.
Through strategic deployment partnerships with utilities, municipalities, and industrial users, promising innovations scale faster and generate the real-world performance data needed to unlock further investment. The accelerator’s deployment track record proves that with the right support structure, water technologies can rapidly progress from concept to transformative solution.
The Ecosystem Advantage
Elemental’s network effect creates a powerful multiplier for water entrepreneurs navigating the complex journey from innovation to impact. Beyond traditional accelerator support, this ecosystem approach connects founders to an intricate web of utilities, corporations, investors, and fellow innovators who become crucial allies in scaling solutions.
At the heart of this network lies strategic matchmaking between entrepreneurs and potential deployment partners. When emerging water technologies align with specific utility challenges, Elemental facilitates pilot projects that generate real-world validation. These demonstrations often catalyze follow-on deployments, as successful case studies ripple through the network of decision-makers facing similar water challenges.
The ecosystem’s value extends far beyond individual connections. Regular cohort convenings and alumni events foster deep collaboration between portfolio companies, leading to technology integration partnerships that enhance solution effectiveness. For instance, sensor companies frequently pair with analytics platforms to deliver more comprehensive water quality monitoring systems.
Perhaps most importantly, Elemental’s ecosystem helps entrepreneurs navigate the industry’s notorious commercialization valley of death. The network includes seasoned water executives who provide mentorship on everything from regulatory compliance to sales strategies. Meanwhile, introductions to aligned investors who understand the water sector’s unique dynamics help companies secure the patient capital needed to scale.
This networked approach has proven particularly powerful for addressing systemic water challenges that no single solution can solve alone. When entrepreneurs can easily find complementary technologies and expertise, they’re better equipped to deliver the integrated solutions that utilities increasingly demand.
The ecosystem’s strength stems from its diversity – bringing together stakeholders across the water value chain who share a commitment to accelerating adoption of sustainable technologies. This creates a trusted environment where entrepreneurs can find the partnerships, feedback and resources needed to transform promising innovations into scaled impact.
From Pilot to Scale
Elemental Excelerator’s methodology for scaling water technologies reflects a deep understanding that successful commercialization requires more than just technical validation. The accelerator employs a multi-faceted approach that addresses both the technological and market readiness aspects of scaling water innovations.
At the core of their scaling methodology is strategic pilot project design. Rather than viewing pilots as simple technical demonstrations, Elemental structures them as comprehensive validation exercises that simultaneously prove the technology while building crucial relationships with potential customers and stakeholders. This approach aligns with industry best practices for how to consistently deliver on the promise as a consultant engineer.
The accelerator’s scaling framework emphasizes three critical components. First, they help startups identify and engage with early adopter customers who have both the motivation and capability to implement new technologies. These partnerships often involve utilities, industrial facilities, or agricultural operations facing acute water challenges.
Second, Elemental facilitates detailed economic modeling and business case development. Their team works with entrepreneurs to quantify both direct financial benefits and broader environmental and social impacts. This comprehensive value proposition becomes crucial when approaching risk-averse water sector customers.
Third, they focus on building the operational infrastructure needed for growth. This includes everything from supply chain development and manufacturing partnerships to regulatory compliance strategies and talent acquisition. The accelerator leverages its network to connect startups with experienced operators who can guide scale-up execution.
A distinguishing feature of Elemental’s approach is their emphasis on place-based deployment. Rather than pursuing scattered pilot projects, they help companies develop focused geographic strategies that build momentum in specific markets. This creates clusters of successful implementations that can serve as powerful references for expansion.
Their methodology also recognizes that scaling in the water sector requires patience and persistence. The accelerator provides long-term support that extends well beyond initial pilot projects, helping companies navigate the extended timelines typical in the industry while maintaining momentum toward full commercial deployment.
Future of Water Innovation
The trajectory of water technology investment is poised for exponential growth as climate challenges intensify. Elemental Excelerator’s pioneering approach to funding and scaling water innovations will play an increasingly vital role in shaping this future landscape.
Investment patterns indicate a dramatic shift toward water technologies that deliver multiple benefits – addressing not just water scarcity and quality, but also energy efficiency, circular economy principles, and climate resilience. Elemental’s portfolio companies are already demonstrating how integrated solutions can transform challenges into opportunities.
As we look ahead, three key trends will define water innovation’s evolution: First, the convergence of digital technologies with traditional water infrastructure will accelerate, enabling predictive maintenance, real-time optimization, and automated decision-making. Second, nature-based solutions will gain prominence as investors recognize their potential to deliver sustainable, climate-resilient water management. Third, decentralized and modular water treatment systems will proliferate, offering flexibility and resilience.
Elemental’s role in this transformation goes beyond traditional accelerator models. Their place-based approach to innovation, which considers local contexts and community needs, will become increasingly relevant as climate impacts vary across regions. Their emphasis on social equity alongside environmental impact positions them uniquely to address the complex challenges ahead.
The accelerator’s success in bridging the pilot-to-commercialization gap will serve as a blueprint for scaling future water innovations. Their methodology of connecting innovators with utilities, corporations, and communities creates lasting partnerships that drive adoption of new technologies.
Critically, Elemental’s focus on solutions that work across sectors – water, energy, agriculture, and transportation – represents the future of climate tech investment. This systems-thinking approach recognizes that water challenges cannot be solved in isolation.
As the water sector faces unprecedented pressures from climate change, population growth, and aging infrastructure, Elemental’s integrated approach to innovation funding and scaling will become increasingly crucial in ensuring a water-secure future.
Final words
Elemental Excelerator stands as a testament to the power of reimagining how we scale climate solutions. Their approach to water technology acceleration – combining rigorous selection, substantial funding, and deep community engagement – has created a new paradigm for turning promising innovations into real-world impact. For water entrepreneurs, the path through Elemental offers not just capital, but a comprehensive support system designed to overcome the unique challenges of scaling water solutions. For impact investors, Elemental’s portfolio demonstrates how technical innovation, community benefit, and financial returns can align to create lasting change. As water challenges intensify globally, the model Elemental has pioneered becomes increasingly relevant. Their success shows that when we invest in water innovation with both head and heart, considering both technical excellence and community needs, we can create solutions that truly flow toward a more sustainable future. The next chapter in water technology acceleration is being written – and Elemental Excelerator is holding the pen.
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