Amazon
Amazon is a strategic corporate investor that backs water-monitoring and smart-metering startups built on its own cloud and connectivity. Through the Alexa Fund and the $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund, it has backed two water companies across three rounds. As of 2025, AWS says it is 75% of the way to its water-positive-by-2030 goal.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Amazon's interest in water starts with its own thirst. Amazon's cloud arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS), runs data centers that consume enormous volumes of water to stay cool, and in 2022 it pledged to be water-positive by 2030, returning more water to communities than it draws. That operational dependency, far more than a financial thesis, is what lands a handful of water startups in Amazon's portfolio.
Amazon's two water investments fit one shape: cheap, connected sensors that make water legible and lean on Amazon's own plumbing. Conservation Labs, a smart home water monitor, came through the Alexa Fund and Amazon's Alexa accelerator in 2019; Subeca, which snaps a smart register onto an existing utility meter, arrived through the Climate Pledge Fund in 2024 and talks to the cloud over Amazon Sidewalk, Amazon's low-power network. Both make the Amazon stack stickier as much as they chase a return.
Amazon writes these cheques rarely and never leads them: across two water companies and three rounds it has led none, always co-investing behind water specialists and strategic utilities. The money runs through Matt Peterson's two vehicles, the $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund and the $1 billion Industrial Innovation Fund, both built to back technology Amazon itself can deploy. For a newcomer, that is the tell: Amazon invests in water as a strategic owner, not a financial one.
Amazon's water footprint is the story to watch, not its deal count. As of 2025 AWS says it is 75% of the way to its 2030 water-positive goal, recycling water at two dozen data centers and funding replenishment projects worldwide. The more that thirst grows with AI, the more reason Amazon has to keep buying small stakes in the companies that measure and save water. Expect more sensors, not a sudden water fund.
Team · 2 profiled
On the show
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 Amazon invest in when it comes to water?
- Amazon backs water-monitoring and smart-metering startups through its corporate venture arms. Its two water companies, Conservation Labs and Subeca, both build connected sensors that read water use and feed Amazon's cloud. Amazon invests for strategic fit with its own operations, not as a dedicated water fund.
- Does Amazon have a water fund?
- Amazon has no standalone water fund. Its water deals run through the Alexa Fund and the $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund, Amazon's broader corporate venture vehicles for voice, connected devices and climate technology. Water is one of eight focus areas inside the Climate Pledge Fund, not a fund of its own.
- Who runs Amazon's climate and water investing?
- Matt Peterson leads Amazon's investing in sustainable technology, directing both the $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund and the $1 billion Industrial Innovation Fund. On the operations side, Will Hewes is the AWS global water sustainability lead, responsible for Amazon's pledge to run its data centers water-positive by 2030.
- Is AWS really going to be water positive by 2030?
- AWS, Amazon's cloud division, says it reached 75% of its water-positive goal in 2025, up from 53% in 2024. It recycles water at two dozen data centers and funds replenishment projects worldwide. Water-positive means returning more water to communities than its data centers consume.
- Is this the same Amazon as the online store?
- Yes. This profile covers Amazon.com, the Seattle technology giant, in its role as a strategic investor in water startups, not a separate water firm. Amazon's water activity spans corporate venture deals and AWS's own data-center water stewardship, tracked here at a company level.