ABB Water Solutions
ABB Water Solutions is the water and wastewater business of ABB, the Swiss-Swedish electrification and automation group. It supplies measurement, analytics and digital control technology to water utilities worldwide, and invests in deep-tech startups through ABB Ventures. As of 2026, (don't) Waste Water links two water-tech companies to ABB across two early-stage deals.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
ABB Water Solutions sits inside ABB, the Swiss-Swedish giant that builds the motors, drives, instruments and software running the world's factories, grids and ships. In water, ABB is far better known as a supplier than as a financial backer, the company whose flowmeters, pressure sensors and analyzers actually measure the water moving through a treatment plant. ABB's deepest water footprint is the instrumentation, not an investment portfolio.
ABB has spent decades selling the unglamorous hardware that keeps a water utility honest: electromagnetic WaterMaster flowmeters, pH and chlorine analyzers, level and pressure measurement, wrapped lately in a digital layer it calls Genix that reads pumping stations and distribution networks in real time. ABB points to utilities like Wellington Water in New Zealand, where its kit trimmed energy use by five to ten percent. ABB sells water utilities efficiency by the percentage point, not by the headline.
ABB does back young companies, through ABB Ventures, the corporate investor it has run since 2009 and through which it has deployed roughly half a billion dollars into robotics, industrial software and the energy transition. Water is a thin slice of that story. The two water-tech names (don't) Waste Water associates with ABB, the electrochemical wastewater startup Hydroleap and Japan's decentralized water-recycling firm WOTA, are both early-stage and both squarely about treatment hardware. Water sits at the edge of ABB's venture map, not the centre.
What I watch with ABB is the boring half of the water story, the metering and analytics almost no one writes about and almost every utility depends on. ABB will not out-invest a dedicated water fund, and it does not try to. Its edge is being the company already inside the plant when the pumps need to run leaner. The interesting ABB water bet is the one measured in flowmeters, not funding rounds.
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 is ABB Water Solutions?
- ABB Water Solutions is the water and wastewater arm of ABB, the Swiss-Swedish electrification and automation group. It supplies measurement and analytics instruments, flowmeters and analyzers, plus digital tools such as the Genix platform that help water utilities run treatment, distribution and pumping more efficiently.
- Does ABB invest in water startups?
- ABB invests in deep-tech startups mainly through ABB Ventures, its corporate venture arm founded in 2009, which has deployed around US$500 million across robotics, industrial software and the energy transition. Water is a small part of that, and (don't) Waste Water tracks two early-stage water-tech companies associated with ABB.
- What water technology does ABB provide?
- ABB provides instrumentation and analytics for the full water cycle, including electromagnetic WaterMaster flowmeters and pressure, level, pH and analytical measurement, plus the Genix industrial-IoT platform. Utilities such as Wellington Water in New Zealand use ABB's measurement kit to improve water quality and cut energy use.
- Where is ABB based?
- ABB is headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, and operates in more than 100 countries. The group employs well over 100,000 people and traces its roots back more than 140 years through the Swedish and Swiss engineering firms ASEA and BBC Brown Boveri, which merged to form ABB in 1988.
- Is ABB Water Solutions a venture fund?
- No. ABB Water Solutions is not a standalone venture fund, it is ABB's water and wastewater technology business. ABB's startup investing runs separately through ABB Ventures, so in water ABB is primarily a technology and measurement supplier rather than a dedicated financial investor.