What companies has Burnt Island Ventures invested in?

Burnt Island has backed 34 water companies, including CREW Carbon, Flocean, HOPE Hydration, Aquatic Labs, Irrigreen and AquiSense, spanning wastewater treatment, subsea desalination, leak detection and utility software. The full portfolio is listed above.

What stage and check size does Burnt Island invest at?

Predominantly Seed and Series A, with a few Series B. The rounds it joins have a median disclosed size of about $4M (range $35K to $33M); Burnt Island leads roughly a fifth of them.

Who does Burnt Island Ventures invest alongside?

Its most frequent water co-investors include EPIC Ventures, Emerald Technology Ventures, DCVC, Bentley Systems and Echo River Capital, several of which (don't) Waste Water also profiles.

How large is Burnt Island Ventures?

Around $50M in AUM, founded in 2020, with a pure-play water mandate rather than water as a side allocation.

How do you reach or pitch Burnt Island Ventures?

Burnt Island backs early-stage (Seed to Series A) water-technology companies; founders can reach the team via burntislandventures.com or the partners' LinkedIn profiles listed below.

Is Burnt Island Ventures a genuine water investor, or an occasional dabbler?

A genuine one. With 34 distinct water bets since 2020 and activity through 2026, it sits in the top Anchor tier of (don't) Waste Water's Water Commitment Score, well clear of the majority of investors who make a single water bet and never return.

Burnt Island Ventures - Water Commitment Score: Anchor

Portfolio · 34 water companies

CREW Carbon

CREW Carbon installs on-site reactors at municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants t

$19MLED Series A · 2026

Aquatic Labs

Cambridge, MA (founded 2022) developer of the first commercial in-situ Total Alkalinity / pH /

$4.8MLED Seed · 2026

HOPE Hydration

HOPE Hydration designs and operates digitally-connected HydroStations that dispense chilled, fi

$20MSeries A · 2025

Onsen

Onsen provides equipment and digital solutions to improve water and energy efficiency in public

$1.5MSeed · 2025

Flocean

Flocean develops subsea desalination systems that operate at 500-meter ocean depths to produce

$11.7MSeries A · 2025

2S Water

2S Water develops on-pipe, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) sensors that continuousl

$300K2025

AquiSense Technologies

AquiSense Technologies is a water treatment company that develops and distributes UV-C LED disi

$2.5M2025

Irrigreen

Irrigreen produces a patented ‘digital sprinkler’ that uses a single robotic nozzle, GIS mappin

$19MSeries A · 2025

CivilGrid

CivilGrid is a California-based SaaS company that provides a cloud GIS and mapping platform tha

$3.5MLED Series A · 2025

Spout

Spout is a U.S.-based water technology company that designs and manufactures countertop atmosph

$2MLED Seed · 2025

Current

Current is a Chicago-based non-profit innovation hub that develops and operates water-technolog

$3.8M2025

LAIIER

LAIIER makes ultra-thin adhesive sensor tapes fabricated with proprietary printed-capacitive el

$4MSeed · 2025

Daupler

Daupler’s cloud-based Response Management System (RMS) applies AI to capture, prioritize and di

$5MSeries B · 2025

Waterly

Waterly provides a cloud-native, mobile-friendly software platform for water and wastewater uti

$4MLED Series A · 2025

CNSRV

CNSRV develops and supplies portable machines for rapid defrosting and chilling of food in comm

-LED 2025

AlgaFilm Technologies

AlgaFilm Technologies builds algae-based thin-film photobioreactor units for municipal and indu

-2025

Epoch Biodesign

Epoch Biodesign develops engineered enzymes and microbial processes to break down hard-to-recyc

-Series A · 2025

Previsico

Previsico provides a real-time, property-level flood forecasting platform that combines meteoro

-2025

Power & Water

UK-based Power & Water supplies modular SonoElectroCoagulation (SEC) systems that combine high-

-2025

SewerAI

SewerAI is a California-based start-up that uses algorithms to analyze CCTV footage of sewage p

$15MSeries B · 2024

Ziptility

Ziptility provides a cloud-based SaaS and mobile GIS platform that lets utility crews capture,

$622KSeed · 2024

Subeca

Subeca is a US start-up that develops smart meter registers and software enabling lower-cost me

$6MSeries A · 2024

TeamSolve

TeamSolve offers a cloud-based “knowledge twin” that ingests SCADA data, asset records and SOPs

$2.5MSeed · 2024

Cala Systems

Cala Systems develops compact residential heat-pump water heaters that use a smart, software-co

$5.6MSeed · 2024

Aqua Membranes

Aqua Membranes is a developer of patented 3D-printed spacer technology that customizes flat she

-LED Series B · 2024

Aclarity

Aclarity is a Massachusetts-based venture-backed company developing an electrochemical oxidatio

$15.9MSeries A · 2023

Aquafortus

Aquafortus is a company that develops non-thermal technology to recover and crystallize high sa

$17M2023

Floodbase

Floodbase offers a satellite-powered data platform that fuses multi-sensor remote sensing, hydr

$12MSeries A · 2023

ZwitterCo

ZwitterCo is a Cambridge MA-based company that develops and sells nanofiltration membranes made

$33.4MSeries A · 2022

Beagle Services

Beagle Services supplies cellular-enabled acoustic and pressure sensors that pinpoint distribut

$4.2MSeed · 2022

Shower Stream

Shower Stream supplies a retrofittable IoT shower valve that combines flow- and temperature-sen

$300K2022

StormSensor

StormSensor deploys cloud-connected ultrasonic and temperature sensors in stormwater and wastew

$12.1MSeries A · 2021

Zilper Trenchless

Zilper Trenchless manufactures a patented microtunneling machine that combines mechanical cutti

$40K2019

SwiftComply

SwiftComply provides a cloud-based compliance management platform that automates fats-oils-grea

$100K2019

See the full portfolio in Leviathan →

The take

In water-focused venture capital, Burnt Island Ventures stands as a beacon of specialized expertise, exclusively dedicated to water-technology innovation. Founded in 2020 by Tom Ferguson out of the Imagine H2O accelerator pedigree, it was the first water-dedicated venture fund of its size: a bet that sector focus, not generalist diversification, is the edge in water. With a portfolio spanning wastewater treatment, subsea desalination, leak detection and utility software, the fund has now backed 34 water companies since inception.

What makes Burnt Island an Anchor on our scale is behaviour, not branding: it comes back (34 distinct water bets, not one), it stays active (deals through 2026), it leads (about a fifth of its rounds), and it is pure-play water. Led by industry veterans Tom Ferguson, Christine Boyle and Steve Kloos, Burnt Island doesn't just write checks: it architects the future of water alongside investors like Emerald, DCVC and Echo River Capital.

Frequently asked

What companies has Burnt Island Ventures invested in?: Burnt Island has backed 34 water companies, including CREW Carbon, Flocean, HOPE Hydration, Aquatic Labs, Irrigreen and AquiSense, spanning wastewater treatment, subsea desalination, leak detection and utility software. The full portfolio is listed above.
What stage and check size does Burnt Island invest at?: Predominantly Seed and Series A, with a few Series B. The rounds it joins have a median disclosed size of about $4M (range $35K to $33M); Burnt Island leads roughly a fifth of them.
Who does Burnt Island Ventures invest alongside?: Its most frequent water co-investors include EPIC Ventures, Emerald Technology Ventures, DCVC, Bentley Systems and Echo River Capital, several of which (don't) Waste Water also profiles.
How large is Burnt Island Ventures?: Around $50M in AUM, founded in 2020, with a pure-play water mandate rather than water as a side allocation.
How do you reach or pitch Burnt Island Ventures?: Burnt Island backs early-stage (Seed to Series A) water-technology companies; founders can reach the team via burntislandventures.com or the partners' LinkedIn profiles listed below.
Is Burnt Island Ventures a genuine water investor, or an occasional dabbler?: A genuine one. With 34 distinct water bets since 2020 and activity through 2026, it sits in the top Anchor tier of (don't) Waste Water's Water Commitment Score, well clear of the majority of investors who make a single water bet and never return.

Burnt Island Ventures

Water Commitment Score

How they invest

Portfolio · 34 water companies

Invests alongside

The take

Team · 9 profiled

Frequently asked