Allos Ventures
Allos Ventures is a Midwest venture capital firm, based in Cincinnati and Indianapolis, that backs early-stage B2B software startups. It is not a water fund: its single tracked water bet is 120Water, a drinking-water compliance platform. As of 2026, (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Allos Ventures was built in 2010 by John McIlwraith and Don Aquilano, two investors who looked at the Midwest and saw the same gap in every state: plenty of capable B2B software founders, nowhere near enough early-stage capital to carry them past the seed round. Allos Ventures set out to be that bridge, writing first institutional cheques into companies across Indiana, Ohio and the surrounding states, and it now invests out of its fourth fund. Water has never been its thesis.
Allos Ventures surfaces in my water data for a single reason: a company called 120Water. The Indiana firm sells cloud software and sampling kits that help utilities, schools and facilities track drinking-water quality and stay on the right side of lead-and-copper rules, the unglamorous compliance plumbing that turned urgent after Flint. Allos Ventures backed 120Water early and kept backing it through later rounds, and Managing Director David Kerr took a seat on its board. One company, backed round after round, is the whole of Allos Ventures' water story.
Allos Ventures is not hunting water deals, and the numbers say so. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional: one water company, 120Water, across the four rounds I can track, and not a single deal where Allos Ventures led. That is the signature of a generalist software fund that found one water company it believed in, not a firm building a water portfolio. The conviction lives in the follow-on, not in a strategy.
Allos Ventures matters for water less as a water investor than as a reminder of how the sector actually gets funded in the middle of the country. A Cincinnati and Indianapolis software fund, holding a 120Water board seat next to fellow Indianapolis investor HG Ventures, is how a drinking-water compliance company lands its early cheques far from the coastal climate-tech crowd. For now that stays one good bet, not a thesis, and this page tracks it as exactly that.
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
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Allos Ventures invest in?
- Allos Ventures invests in early-stage B2B software and tech-enabled service companies based in the US Midwest, mainly Indiana and Ohio. Allos Ventures is a generalist fund, not a water specialist; within water, its only tracked investment is 120Water, a drinking-water quality and compliance platform.
- Is Allos Ventures a water fund?
- No. Allos Ventures is a Midwest software venture firm, and (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional. Allos Ventures has backed a single tracked water company, 120Water, repeatedly, but water is not a stated thesis; the firm invests broadly across business software and tech-enabled services.
- What water companies has Allos Ventures backed?
- Allos Ventures has backed one tracked water company, 120Water. Based in Indiana, 120Water sells cloud software and sampling kits that help utilities, schools and facilities monitor drinking-water quality and meet lead-and-copper regulations. Allos Managing Director David Kerr sits on the 120Water board.
- Who runs Allos Ventures?
- Allos Ventures was co-founded in 2010 by John McIlwraith, based in Cincinnati, and Don Aquilano, based in Indianapolis, who both serve as Managing Directors. David Kerr joined as a third Managing Director in 2018 and leads the firm's involvement with 120Water.
- Where is Allos Ventures based?
- Allos Ventures works from two Midwest offices, Cincinnati, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 2010, Allos Ventures focuses on early-stage software companies across the Midwest and invests out of Allos IV, the fourth fund in its series, which began raising in 2022.