BDC Capital
BDC Capital is the investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada, the country's government-owned bank for entrepreneurs. It is a generalist climate, growth and venture investor whose water deals run through its cleantech funds, led today by the Climate Tech Fund. As of 2026 it has backed four Canadian water companies across five deals.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
BDC Capital is the investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), the federal Crown corporation, a government-owned bank, that has financed Canadian entrepreneurs since 1944. Its water bets do not come from a water thesis; they come from its climate and cleantech funds, where treating, sensing and saving water sits next to batteries, hydrogen and carbon capture. Water is one line in a climate mandate, not the whole page.
BDC built that climate engine deliberately. After Ottawa earmarked $600 million for climate tech in the 2017 federal budget, BDC stood up its Cleantech Practice in 2018, then added a $400 million Climate Tech Fund II in 2022, pushing its total cleantech commitment past $1 billion and turning it into one of the most active climate investors in the country. The Climate Tech Fund backs late-stage seed to growth companies across energy, mobility, the built environment, industry and carbon management, the buckets a water-tech founder has to fit into.
BDC Capital's water portfolio shows a consistent Canadian, hard-tech instinct: fund the treatment and the measurement, not the utility. Across the four water companies (don't) Waste Water tracks, that has meant photocatalyst coatings that break down contaminants (Xatoms), handheld electrochemical detectors that read water quality in the field (FREDsense), a Wi-Fi shower that recirculates and filters its own drain water (RainStick), and direct-lithium-extraction that pulls battery metal out of brine (Summit Nanotech). It is water as chemistry, sensors and recovery, caught early and kept Canadian.
BDC Capital changed hands at the top of that climate book in 2025: managing partner Susan Rohac retired in May after eight years building it, and Shirley Speakman, a longtime Cycle Capital and BDC cleantech investor, now runs the Climate Tech Fund. The question worth watching is whether water keeps earning its corner of a climate book whose centre of gravity is plainly energy and emissions, or stays a handful of Canadian seed and growth cheques on the side.
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 · 4 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does BDC Capital invest in?
- BDC Capital invests across Canadian startups, growth companies and venture funds as the arm of the country's development bank. Its water and cleantech deals run through its climate and cleantech funds, led by the Climate Tech Fund, which backs energy, water, carbon and industrial technologies from seed to growth. Water names it has backed include Xatoms, FREDsense, RainStick and Summit Nanotech.
- Is BDC Capital a water fund?
- No. BDC Capital is a generalist, government-owned investor, and water is a small part of its climate and cleantech mandate, not a standalone thesis. Across the companies (don't) Waste Water tracks, BDC Capital has backed four Canadian water companies across five deals, mostly at the seed and early-growth stage.
- Who runs BDC Capital's Climate Tech Fund?
- BDC Capital's Climate Tech Fund is led by managing partner Shirley Speakman, who took over in 2025 after Susan Rohac retired following eight years building the fund. Speakman, previously a senior partner at cleantech investor Cycle Capital, oversees BDC's climate and sustainability venture investing in Canadian companies.
- Where is BDC Capital based?
- BDC Capital is headquartered in Montreal, Canada, and operates as the investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada, a federal Crown corporation (a government-owned bank). It invests across Canada and backs companies from seed and venture stages through to growth and private equity.
- Is BDC Capital the same as the US BDC Capital?
- No. This BDC Capital is the Canadian investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada, a federal government bank in Montreal. It is not the same as BDC Capital Corporation, a separate US mezzanine-finance firm, nor the US 'business development company' (BDC) fund structure that shares the acronym.