Battelle
Battelle is the world's largest independent nonprofit research and development institute, founded in 1929 and based in Columbus, Ohio. In water it backs companies it helps create, spinning out and co-investing in ventures that clean up contaminated water and destroy industrial pollutants. As of 2026 it has backed one water company tracked in the Leviathan database, Allonnia.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Battelle is not a venture fund in the usual sense. It is a nonprofit applied-science institute, founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1929 from the bequest of industrialist Gordon Battelle, that today runs or co-manages a network of US national laboratories and turns its own research into companies. Its water bets are an extension of that lab work, not a financial portfolio strategy.
Battelle's clearest water story is PFAS, the 'forever chemicals' that resist breaking down and now show up in drinking water worldwide. Its researchers built a supercritical-water-oxidation system, branded the PFAS Annihilator, that destroys more than 99.99% of these compounds, and Battelle spun the technology into a standalone company, Revive Environmental, to deploy it at scale.
Battelle's other water bet is Allonnia, a synthetic-biology company it co-founded alongside Ginkgo Bioworks and investors including General Atlantic, Cascade Investment and Viking Global Investors. Allonnia engineers microbes to break down waste and contaminants, again with PFAS in its sights. The pattern is consistent: Battelle backs water companies that commercialise the kind of science its own labs already do.
Battelle's water footprint in my Leviathan database is deliberately narrow as of 2026: one company, Allonnia, across three tracked rounds, because this is an R&D institute that invests where its technology leads, not a fund chasing deal flow. The open question is how many more Revives and Allonnias are sitting in its national-lab pipeline, waiting to be spun out.
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 · 1 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Battelle invest in?
- Battelle backs water and environmental companies that commercialise its own research, rather than investing as a conventional fund. Its tracked water bets centre on contamination cleanup and PFAS destruction, including the spinout Revive Environmental and the synthetic-biology firm Allonnia, which it co-founded with Ginkgo Bioworks.
- Is Battelle a venture capital firm?
- Battelle is not a traditional venture capital firm. It is the world's largest independent nonprofit research and development institute, founded in 1929, that creates and co-invests in companies built on its science. It also manages national laboratories for the US Department of Energy.
- Where is Battelle based?
- Battelle is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, where it was founded in 1929 from the bequest of industrialist Gordon Battelle. From there it runs or co-manages a network of US national laboratories and a global research operation spanning energy, environment, health and national security.
- How many water companies has Battelle backed?
- Battelle has backed one water company tracked in the Leviathan database, the synthetic-biology remediation firm Allonnia, across three funding rounds. Its wider water impact runs through spinouts such as Revive Environmental, which deploys Battelle's PFAS Annihilator technology to destroy 'forever chemicals' at scale.