Bellingham Angel Investors
Bellingham Angel Investors is a Pacific Northwest angel group based in Bellingham, Washington. About 50 accredited members back early-stage healthcare and technology startups across Washington and British Columbia. Water is not its focus: its one tracked water bet is Membrion, a University of Washington membrane spinout. As of 2026, (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment One-Off.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Bellingham Angel Investors is a members' club, not a fund. About 50 accredited investors in the northwest corner of Washington State pool their own judgement, meet monthly to hear a handful of startups pitch, and write cheques as individuals into the ones they like. Since 2005 its members have put more than $30 million into roughly 50 companies, almost all of them healthcare and technology around the Cascadia corridor that runs from Seattle up into British Columbia.
Bellingham Angel Investors is not a water investor, and it would not claim to be. Its entire water footprint is a single company, Membrion, which the group's members helped fund in an early round in 2020. Membrion is a Seattle company that spun out of the University of Washington in 2016, and it builds ceramic membranes that pull salt and heavy metals like lead, arsenic and mercury out of industrial wastewater so the water can be reused.
Bellingham Angel Investors caught Membrion early, the way a regional angel group sometimes catches a science project before the specialist funds arrive. The company has since grown well beyond its angel roots: as of October 2025 Membrion had raised further rounds from dedicated water investors, including the water-focused funds PureTerra Ventures and Pangaea Ventures that price and chase water deals for a living. That later capital is not Bellingham's; the group's contribution was the early, local cheque that helped a university lab become a company.
Bellingham Angel Investors, for a water founder, is not a water door to knock on. It is a reminder that early water companies are often born in a university lab and first backed by a local angel who simply liked the team, not by a water specialist running a thesis. If the group backs another water company, it will most likely be because a Cascadia founder walked into a monthly meeting, not because water moved onto the agenda.
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 Bellingham Angel Investors invest in?
- Bellingham Angel Investors backs early-stage healthcare and technology startups in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, with a preference for Washington's Whatcom, Skagit and Island counties. It is a segment-agnostic angel group rather than a water investor; its one tracked water company is Membrion, a University of Washington spinout building ceramic membranes for industrial wastewater reuse.
- Who runs Bellingham Angel Investors?
- Bellingham Angel Investors is a member-led group of around 50 accredited investors, founded in 2005, who meet monthly to hear startup pitches and invest as individuals. Mark Knittel, a longtime Pacific Northwest technology executive, serves as its President. Members pay annual dues and collectively decide which companies to back after group due diligence.
- Is Bellingham Angel Investors a water investor?
- No. Bellingham Angel Investors is a generalist angel group focused on healthcare and technology, not water. Its single tracked water bet is Membrion, an industrial-wastewater membrane company it helped fund early. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment One-Off as of 2026, reflecting one water company across two early-stage deals.
- Where is Bellingham Angel Investors based?
- Bellingham Angel Investors is based in Bellingham, Washington, near the Canadian border in the state's northwest corner. The group focuses on early-stage companies across the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, giving preference to founders in Whatcom, Skagit and Island counties. Its members have backed roughly 50 companies since 2005.
- Is Bellingham Angel Investors the same as Bellingham Angels?
- Yes. Bellingham Angel Investors is also listed as Bellingham Angels and the Bellingham Angel Organization across investor databases; the names refer to the same Bellingham, Washington angel group founded in 2005. It should not be confused with city-level economic-development funds or unrelated angel networks elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest.