Aqualateral
Aqualateral is a Brooklyn-based, water-only investment vehicle that funds technologies tackling the global water crisis across multiple asset classes, from venture equity to infrastructure. Founded in 2021 by Allison Schwartz, it refuses to invest in buying, selling, or privatizing water. As of June 2026 it has backed 2 water companies and (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Committed.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Aqualateral starts from an unusual place for a water investor: a frustration with who gets funded. Allison Schwartz, who earlier co-founded the health nonprofit Grameen PrimaCare with Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, kept seeing private money reach water-stressed communities last, if at all. So in 2021 she built Aqualateral as a multi-asset vehicle, which means it can put money to work as venture equity, debt, or infrastructure rather than a single one-size pool, the idea being that the financing should bend to the water problem instead of forcing the problem to fit a fund.
Aqualateral draws one hard line that tells you most of what you need to know about it: it will not invest to buy, sell, or privatize water. The firm treats water as a public good it stewards, not a resource to corner and resell, which is a refreshingly explicit stance in a sector where plenty of investors are happy to wave the impact flag and stay vague about it. For a newcomer trying to read the water-investing map, that single sentence is a useful compass.
Aqualateral's two water bets so far both sit at the technology-and-pipes end of the sector rather than anything flashy. Daupler builds an AI-driven response system that helps water utilities triage the messy real-world stuff, the main breaks, the overflows, the 2am phone calls, while Aclarity uses electrochemical oxidation to actually destroy PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals, rather than just filtering them and shifting the problem somewhere else. Both are picks-and-shovels plays on the unglamorous plumbing of water, which happens to be the terrain Kelly Trott, who runs the firm's deal sourcing and once ran Imagine H2O's water accelerator, knows best.
Aqualateral is, for now, a small and deliberately concentrated shop, and as of June 2026 (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Committed. The open question I keep coming back to is whether the multi-asset model actually scales, because running venture cheques, infrastructure capital, and community-shaped deals out of one vehicle is genuinely harder than picking a single lane and staying in it. What is not in question is the focus, because Aqualateral is one of the very few investors whose entire reason for existing is water.
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 Aqualateral invest in?
- Aqualateral invests only in water, backing technologies that address the global water crisis across multiple asset classes, from venture equity to infrastructure. Its named investments so far, Daupler and Aclarity, sit in digital water operations and contaminant treatment. The firm explicitly will not invest to buy, sell, or privatize water.
- Who runs Aqualateral?
- Aqualateral was founded in 2021 by Allison Schwartz, who earlier co-founded the nonprofit Grameen PrimaCare with Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. Its investment team includes Managing Partner and COO Kelly Trott, who previously ran Imagine H2O's water accelerator, and Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer Jiten Manglani.
- Where is Aqualateral based?
- Aqualateral is based in Brooklyn, New York, and operates as a multi-asset investment vehicle focused entirely on water. Founded in 2021, it runs with a small team and concentrates on a handful of water technology and infrastructure investments rather than a high-volume venture portfolio.
- Is Aqualateral a venture capital fund?
- Aqualateral is broader than a standard venture fund. It calls itself a multi-asset investment vehicle, meaning it can deploy venture equity, debt, or infrastructure capital depending on the water problem. To date it has made Series A and Series B water investments, and (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Committed as of June 2026.
- What water companies has Aqualateral backed?
- Aqualateral has backed 2 water companies: Daupler, whose AI response-management system helps utilities handle incidents like main breaks in real time, and Aclarity, which uses electrochemical oxidation to destroy PFAS and other contaminants in water. Both sit at the technology and infrastructure edge of the sector.