HG Ventures
HG Ventures is the corporate venture arm of The Heritage Group, the family-owned Indianapolis materials and chemicals group, and one of the more active backers of industrial water technology in the US. It invests in hardtech across PFAS removal, membranes, and digital water, and as of 2026 has backed 7 water companies across 12 deals, from Seed to Series C.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
HG Ventures is the in-house investing team of The Heritage Group, a fourth-generation, family-owned Indianapolis business that has spent roughly ninety years in construction materials, environmental services, and specialty chemicals. In 2018 the group decided that the same materials-science muscle it used to run thirty-odd operating companies could be pointed at startups, and it handed the job to Kip Frey, a former Duke innovation chief and Intersouth Partners venture investor, who built the venture arm from scratch. So when HG Ventures writes a cheque, the founder is not just buying money. They are buying access to a research center and a fleet of industrial businesses that can pressure-test a new chemistry at real scale.
HG Ventures keeps showing up in water precisely because of that parentage. The fund backs hardtech the Heritage operating companies actually understand: Puraffinity and Aclarity going after PFAS, FREDsense building field detectors for it, ZwitterCo making fouling-resistant membranes for ugly industrial streams, ElectraMet pulling metals back out of wastewater, and 120Water and Transcend running the unglamorous software that keeps utilities compliant and engineers fast. It is a portfolio with a point of view: water as an industrial process problem, not a consumer-app story.
Two things are worth saying out loud about how HG Ventures invests. First, it is not a water-only fund, the way a PureTerra or a Burnt Island is. Water is one strong theme inside a broader hardtech book that also runs to robotics, infrastructure AI, and advanced materials, so a founder is pitching a generalist who happens to have deep water conviction. Second, because the cheque comes off The Heritage Group's own balance sheet rather than a fixed ten-year fund, HG Ventures can sit on a name for the long haul, which is the kind of patient, strategic capital that hardware-heavy water companies usually struggle to find.
HG Ventures is still building its bench in 2026, co-led by managing directors Kip Frey and John Glushik, with managing director Ginger Rothrock heading the water practice and an active crew sourcing across the United States and Europe. For a newcomer trying to read the water-VC map, HG Ventures is the entry to watch for the question other funds skip: not whether a water technology works in a lab, but whether it can survive contact with a real industrial plant.
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 · 7 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does HG Ventures invest in?
- HG Ventures backs hardtech startups, with industrial water technology as a major theme: PFAS removal, fouling-resistant membranes, metals recovery, and digital water compliance. As of 2026 its water portfolio runs to 7 water companies across 12 deals, from Seed to Series C, alongside broader bets in robotics, infrastructure, and advanced materials.
- Is HG Ventures a water-only fund?
- No. HG Ventures is the corporate venture arm of The Heritage Group, an Indianapolis materials and chemicals company, and it invests across hardtech, not water alone. Water is one of its strongest themes, which is why it appears among the more active water-tech backers in the United States, but founders are pitching a generalist with deep water conviction.
- Who runs HG Ventures?
- HG Ventures is co-led by managing directors Kip Frey, who launched the venture arm for The Heritage Group in 2018, and John Glushik. Managing director Ginger Rothrock leads its water investing, with principal Natalie Cira and venture director Mitch Black rounding out an investment team based in Indianapolis.
- Where is HG Ventures based?
- HG Ventures is based in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the headquarters of its parent, The Heritage Group, a fourth-generation, family-owned business in construction materials, environmental services, and specialty chemicals. From there it invests in startups across the United States and Europe, leaning on the Heritage operating companies to support its portfolio.
- How many water deals has HG Ventures done?
- As of 2026, HG Ventures has backed 7 water companies across 12 water deals tracked by (don't) Waste Water, spanning Seed to Series C. Named water investments include Puraffinity, Aclarity, FREDsense, ZwitterCo, ElectraMet, Transcend, and 120Water, concentrated in PFAS, membranes, and digital water.