Acequia Capital
Acequia Capital is a Seattle-based venture capital firm that backs deep-tech startups across AI, hardware, industrials, energy, and defense. Founded in 2010 by former Microsoft executive Hank Vigil, it is a generalist, not a water specialist: its water bets are two Series A companies, PFAS-remover Puraffinity and cloud-seeder Rainmaker. As of June 2026 it has backed 350-plus companies.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Acequia Capital takes its name from the acequias, the communal irrigation ditches that carry snowmelt across the American Southwest, a fitting accident for a generalist tech fund whose two clearest water bets are both about moving water around. Acequia is a deep-tech generalist, not a water specialist. Hank Vigil founded it in 2010 after two decades at Microsoft, where he ran strategy and partnerships, and built it into a Seattle firm that has backed more than 350 companies across AI, hardware, industrials, defense, and energy.
Acequia Capital's water exposure is small and deliberate: two Series A companies that sit where water meets frontier hardware. Puraffinity and Rainmaker are the two names. Puraffinity, out of London, builds bio-based adsorbent media that pulls PFAS forever chemicals out of water; Rainmaker, in the US, flies drones that seed clouds to wring more rain and snow out of the sky for drought-hit water agencies. One cleans water, the other makes more of it, and both are really deep-tech engineering plays dressed as water deals.
Acequia Capital reaches water through its industrials and energy edge, not a standalone water thesis, which is why it turns up as a co-investor next to climate and water specialists such as Lowercarbon Capital and Octopus Ventures. The partner closest to this corner is Alan Simon, whose brief is reindustrialization, energy, and advanced materials, the exact territory where water becomes an engineering problem. For a newcomer, the useful read is this: Acequia is where water shows up as deep tech, not as impact.
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 does Acequia Capital invest in?
- Acequia Capital invests in early-stage deep-tech startups across AI, machine learning, hardware, industrials, defense, energy, and life sciences. Founded in 2010, it has backed more than 350 companies. Its water exposure is two Series A bets, PFAS-removal firm Puraffinity and cloud-seeding startup Rainmaker.
- Does Acequia Capital invest in water?
- Acequia Capital is a generalist deep-tech VC, not a water fund, but it holds two water companies: Puraffinity, which strips PFAS forever chemicals from water, and Rainmaker, which seeds clouds to boost rainfall. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Committed.
- Who runs Acequia Capital?
- Acequia Capital was founded in 2010 and is run by Managing Partner Hank Vigil, who spent 21 years at Microsoft as a strategy and partnerships executive. The partnership also includes General Partner Leif Danielsen, European Partner Marc Jalabert, and venture partners covering defense, energy, and media.
- Where is Acequia Capital based?
- Acequia Capital is based in Seattle, Washington, with its European partner operating from Paris. The firm invests globally across the US and Europe and has backed startups in more than a dozen countries since it was founded in 2010.
- Is Acequia Capital a water fund?
- An acequia is a communal irrigation channel used across Spain and the American Southwest, but Acequia Capital is a generalist deep-tech venture firm, not a water or agriculture fund. Its water connection is two of its 350-plus portfolio companies, Puraffinity and Rainmaker.