Aureolis Ventures
Aureolis Ventures is a Mumbai-based early-stage venture firm that backs deep tech, climate, health and consumer founders, not a water specialist. Its water footprint is a small slice of a generalist book: India-focused bets like wastewater-treatment startup Indra Water and subscription purifier brand DrinkPrime. As of 2026, Leviathan rates its water commitment Occasional.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Aureolis Ventures is the fund Paula Mariwala built after helping invent Indian venture capital. Mariwala, a Stanford-trained physicist and one of the first women VCs in India, co-founded the pioneering Seedfund, backed early winners like RedBus and Carwale, and started Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs India before launching Aureolis to chase the next generation of deep-tech and climate founders out of Mumbai.
Aureolis Ventures is, first and honestly, a generalist. I track it in my Leviathan database across health, consumer, education and deep tech, writing the earliest priced cheques, from pre-seed to Series A, into names most Indian founders would recognise: the learning platform Unacademy, the space-imaging startup Pixxel, the bus-network app Chalo. Water is one sleeve of that climate book, not the whole wardrobe, and the page you are reading exists because of two cheques inside it.
Aureolis Ventures' two tracked water bets are Indra Water, which treats industrial and sewage wastewater with electrocoagulation so small manufacturers can reuse it on a lighter energy budget, and DrinkPrime, a subscription service that puts smart reverse-osmosis purifiers into Indian homes for a monthly fee instead of a heavy upfront buy. Aureolis also lists a third water name on its own roster, the wastewater-operations software startup Digital Paani, though Leviathan counts two priced water rounds for the fund. Across those bets it sat alongside heavier hitters, the global cleantech investor Emerald Technology Ventures, India's Omidyar Network, and Sequoia's Surge.
Aureolis Ventures is not, in the end, a water fund, and Leviathan's Occasional rating says as much. Aureolis is a generalist that writes the occasional water cheque when a founder and an Indian market problem line up, and water in India, scarce, contaminated and politically charged, throws up plenty of those. Expect its next water bet to look like its last: founder first, water second.
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 Aureolis Ventures invest in?
- Aureolis Ventures is a generalist early-stage investor, backing founders in deep tech, climate, health, education and consumer from pre-seed to Series A. Its water companies in the Leviathan database are Indra Water, an industrial wastewater-treatment startup, and DrinkPrime, a subscription home water-purifier brand.
- Is Aureolis Ventures a water-focused fund?
- Aureolis Ventures is not a water-focused fund. Aureolis is a Mumbai generalist whose water exposure is a small part of its climate sleeve. Leviathan rates its water commitment Occasional, reflecting two water companies, Indra Water and DrinkPrime, inside a broad multi-sector portfolio.
- Who runs Aureolis Ventures?
- Aureolis Ventures was founded by Paula Mariwala, a Stanford-trained physicist and one of India's first women venture capitalists, who co-founded Seedfund and Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs India. She is joined by co-founder Ruchi Jain Hanasoge and partner Jyotsna Pattabiraman, the former founder and CEO of health startup Grow Fit.
- Where is Aureolis Ventures based?
- Aureolis Ventures is based in Mumbai, India, in the Worli district, and invests in early-stage founders in India and beyond. Its water portfolio so far is India-focused, with Indra Water and DrinkPrime both solving local industrial and household water problems.
- Is Aureolis Ventures a water company?
- Aureolis Ventures is an investor, not a water company or utility. The water technology comes from its portfolio companies, Indra Water for wastewater treatment and DrinkPrime for home purifiers. Aureolis supplies the early-stage capital and backing, not the equipment or service itself.